


Slendermansion Shenanigans

by Cennaya, tanouttatan



Category: Creepypasta - Fandom
Genre: Horror, Humor, Multi, it's the slendermansion don't expect much, tbh this is a disaster and I love it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-16 17:48:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13641348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cennaya/pseuds/Cennaya, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tanouttatan/pseuds/tanouttatan
Summary: The Estate, or as it's inhabitants call it, the Slendermansion, has been built, and the entity that resides within has begun collection of his proxies. Who has he chosen, and for what reason?(Bear with me while I figure out how to make script flow.)





	1. The Worst Welcome Party Ever

**Author's Note:**

> Before we begin, credits are due.
> 
> Many characters will be present in this story, and each belongs to their respective owners. The renowned creepypastas will have their original creators unnamed as the majority already knows who their creators are. But I will be crediting the owners of the OCs, as well as those who have revamped the stories for this project in particular. This project is very heavily based off a roleplay in which we are all improvising.
> 
> Tya Maraise, Aspen Varro, Addilyn Ellis, Marion Morillo (Asphyxia) and Lucien Rozell belong to myself. The revamped versions of Jeff the Killer and Clockwork are also done by me. If you would like further information on any of the characters, you can also find me at the tumblr, ashxfallen.
> 
> You can find the creator of Devin Rivera at the tumblr, halfxsmile.
> 
> You can find the person responsible for the portrayal of Ticci Toby, Jane, Isaac, Zalgo and Eyeless Jack, and the creator of James at the tumblr, tanouttatan.
> 
> You can find the person responsible for the portrayal of (Teen) Alex Kralie at the tumblr, thesasstasticsoldier.
> 
> You can find the person responsible for the portrayal of Kyle Broflovski (Vyr15) and Feral at the tumblr, vyr15.
> 
> This page may be edited in the future, as both this story and the roleplay it's based on, are ongoing.

Large, Mahogany double doors fall open almost immediately after a knock sounds through a wide foyer and it's attached great room.

On the other side stands a man, a smile being made exaggerated by deep carvings in his face. He steps aside, burn-scarred hands inviting his guests inward to the foyer, then he exclaims "Welcome, Welcome!"

As the group enters, his shoulder's rise with anticipation and he scurries across the white marble floors, in front of them, looking each over and saying "how wonderful to see you, oh it's a wonderful group. Lookit you, you're all so cute."

The group of misfit teens stand in something of a line, and at the beginning of it stands a young boy, likely 17. Blood stains a pair of hello kitty pajama bottoms, and a white t shirt, as well as clumps in brown curls. His face is hidden by a black mask, with slats, like ventilation of some sort. His eyes are clouded and dead, staring blankly at nothing in particular. Despite the fact that he snaps his neck to the side in a violent, swift twitch, his bones cracking with the action, attention is not first paid to him.

Instead, the male with the carved face was immediately drawn to the second in line: a small boy, inches shorter than himself, with dark hair and tired, blue eyes. If scars were genetic, one would think this boy was the man's son. The right side of his face is bandaged sloppily and taped down in a way that allows him to see through the dressings. The eye that peeks through the bandages is different than the other. Around it is visible scarring much like the skin of the man that leaned to examine him.

He draws back as the stranger nears him, a lip briefly flickering up in disgust as he looks at him.

Light blue eyes examine what skin can be seen through the bandaging. Peeled and burned, fresh, as if it's still healing. The smiling man can tell; he is experienced. Because of this knowledge, he says quietly, as if only between the two of them: " _you and I will be more beautiful than all the others_ ".

At this, the teen snarls and drops his head, obviously annoyed at pointing out his face. He mumbles more to himself than anyone, "I'm half bald and look like a god damn candle. Nice try"

A gruff laugh leaves the taller, and he licked his thin, charred lips. "If I can look  _this_  magnificent with similar scarring, then  _you_  can look this magnificent too."

The teen clearly grimaces once more; he's uncomfortable and his good eye starts to twitch in annoyance "Awesome-"

Before any more argument can be made, the first in line cracks his neck again without saying a word. It's clear that this conversation is not fazing him—in fact, nothing in the room seems to be.

The bandaged teen's gaze shifts to him, and as it does, the taller's follows.

He straightened, studying him carefully as he strolled over to him like some sort of cinematic drill Sergeant.

As he steps foot in front of him, there's a sound—a  _hiss_ , a  **glitch**. He doesn’t look; the sound is familiar. He asks "is this one functional?" to an entity as it manifests and now stands first in line, towering over the children. Three of four teens flinch, but attention is not paid to their surprise, nor is there much more than dismayed expressions after they are startled.

Before the entity can respond, the scar-faced man reaches a hand up and pokes the bloody brunette just above his mask, on grey tinted skin.

The boy does something that looks like he's tensing up for a moment, then a hand raises and, in a swift twitch, slaps the man touching him.

Immediately, he withdraws, his own hand moving to the spot that was hit. He pouts, and huffs: "I suppose I deserved that" with a childlike displeasure in his voice. "But you could have just said yes."

As the hit sinks into the mind of the three other’s, the third in line draws the Drill Sergeant's attention with a laugh. He is bored, and that is very clear. This little welcome party is beyond him, and he nearly ran out to do something better several times. That is until the twitchy  _freak_  slapped the  _clown_  anyway.

"Oh, you must be a blossoming little sadist." The smiling man says.

"I am not." The third scoffs. "I just don't want to be here."

He looks from the first, back to the third, then frowns and says "But it's such fun! We have all sorts of food waiting for you!" With this, he motions once more, to one side of the foyer. From their position, the elegant archway cannot be seen around a gentle curve in the stone wall, but beyond it is a dining room on the right wing with a subpar feast set along its mahogany tables, made specially for their arrival.

The first in line gives no response. His neck cracks once more, and hand twitches, the sound drawing back the attention of the sergeant. He’s still listening for the third's response. He just thinks this one is...  _interesting_.

The third, a boy that is taller than all but the faceless entity in the fine attire, glances down the line, not at the faceless entity, but at the bloody brunette. His eye twitches. "I don't think I'll be able to eat anything if that thing is here."

Seeing the annoyance, the second takes a full back step away from the other two and looks ready to bolt. With this position now empty, the first in line is free to reach outward and slap the third in the back of the head similarly to the way he struck the sergeant.

At the end of the line, the only female takes a step away as well, not the least bit interested in being included in whatever may now ensue.

The third turns to glare at the freak, having to restrain himself from strangling him. "Can you either take this thing away or at least explain to us what's going on?"

At this, the twitching boy puts his bloodied hand up to his mouth only to be stopped by the mouth guard. His fingertips show sign of ware, like he has bitten into them before, and this habit is not at all uncommon to him.

The sergeant holds his hands up, splayed in a weird way for honestly no reason at all, because he sets them roughly onto the odd one's shoulders. "I'll take it, it interests me."

At that, the bandaged boy turns to leave and says "I'm out".

Hands quickly fall from the shoulders of the twitching boy, and he scurries to take hold of the bandaged one's wrist. "But I've done so much to accommodate you!"

As the Sergeant does so, there's a sound behind the teens. It's an uncomfortable sound; A  _splat_. As the four turn back, they find something has dropped from the ceiling- A humanoid figure, crouched on all fours. As it raises its head, they see black dripping from the eye holes of what seems to be an old, blue, wooden mask. He hisses at the teen nearing the door, and in response the tall, feisty one declares the same thing:

"Yeah, I'm out too."

Before they can make their move, the odd figure crawls over to the front door, and continues to crouch in front of it as if standing guard.

"We're friendly, really," the Sergeant assures them, his exaggerated smile growing once again "How about we enjoy the food instead?" His free hand grabs the tall boy's arm and he pulls the two from the door.

A boney hand, with long, spindly fingers motions outward from the faceless entity, as if gesturing for the two remaining teens to follow. The brunette hurries to do so, and with a bit of hesitation, the girl does the same.

As the Sergeant drags the two, he says "I'll show you all around and to your rooms, but a little murder always works up an appetite, I can only imagine you're hungry."  But they don’t get far before the tallest boy, rips his arm away from the 'clown' that held him and responds: "What makes you think I'm going to be living here?"

"Where is it you intend to go?" The question brings pause to all but the Sergeant, not because of what’s said, but because who said it cannot be identified immediately. It is not one voice, but many, in a manner that sounds more akin to an eerie breeze than human speech. But there are many layers; a unified chorus, that come from nothing, but speak directly into the heads of those listening.

Nothing outside leads them to think this as the voices did not originate from him, but at once, the group’s attention is drawn to the faceless abomination. Somehow, it’s clear to them that he was the one that asked.

None respond.

"If you're here," the sergeant begins, releasing the arm he still held, "that means you don't have anything to go back to. We will keep you safe and warm, of course."

The brunette comes to a halt behind the others, as his ordered destination was blocked by their positions. A loud crack, and then he speaks: "I-intend to go... S-safe and W-warm..."

He is ignored by all but the Sergeant and the girl.

"You don't know that." The bandaged boy crosses his arms defensively.

Nodding his head, the taller agrees. "Yeah, what makes you think you know anything about us?"

The sergeant motions toward the entity behind them, and the twitching brunette mimics the movement.

Bandages glares at the freak then sneers: "thanks, I get it".

The Sergeant's hand drops back to his side and he says "If you're here, it means you have nothing to go back to. You are wanted and you won't be allowed to live, but with us, you’ll have freedom."

"f-f-fr-" the brunette starts to echo, but interrupts with a crack. “ F-freedom"

"How exactly does that work then? Are you like the opposite of the fucking polar express where you come with a fucking train to pick up dipshits that fucked up or something?" The tall one spits.

"We have a van for our poor fucked up kids. The proxymobile of course!" Sergeant says jokingly, but pauses as he realizes that's not too bad an idea. He saves it for later, then continues. "He finds you, he takes you, you live freely doing simple tasks for him when he asks. As for how he does it, I'm not sure. Oppy senses?"

"Tasks? The hell does that mean?" Bandages growls, a hand slipping from beneath crossed arms only to make a harsh, inquisitive motion.

"Could mean anything from getting house groceries to a little bit of murder to going out and finding a pretty picturesque place and carving a symbol in it." As the Sergeant explains, the entity straightens, and displays that he apparently was not programmed to have a walk cycle because he did not walk, rather  _appeared_  next to the group.

Bandages seems oddly uncomfortable at the mention of murder and just avoids eye contact everyone in the room. Tensed and looking away, he states "I've never murdered anyone."

Immediately, Sergeant laughs incredulously. "Of course you haven't."

The brunette, not fazed by the teleportation, the mention of murder or even the laughing, cracks his neck and proceeds to idly tap his worn fingers against his mouth guard.

After having to back up since the no-faced-weirdo had no sense or personal space, the tallest went back to complaining. "Wait, you're making us do _chores_? Are you serious?"

"Every household needs everyone to do a little work!" Sergeant sings, motioning back toward the dining room. They've neared it then, enough to see the wide arch that leads in. The dark wood table is lined with chairs of similar make, with red cushioning and neatly done engravings along the back. The walls in here are all similar wood- all except the farthest one, which is stone. On either side, they are decorated with various embellishments such as paintings and draperies. On the far end, on centered in the grey stone, is a wide window, before which sits a table with vases of various flora. In either corner of the far end are cabinets with glass fronts, filled with pristine dinnerware.

Though the girl and Bandages are both somewhat admiring the scenery, the brunette stands absent, and the tallest elects to complain instead: "But you kidnapped us!"

"I request your assistance." The entity speaks again, "I propose you cut your ties, and if you do, I take you in. The four of you have cut your ties."

"C-cut T-ties..." The brunette's fingers tap on his mask, still trying to get passed.

The tall, complaintive boy urges more. "What do you mean, you propose we cut out ties and we do it? Did you **make** us kill people?"

"I do not _make_ , you  _choose_."

"You _manipulate_ people into doing it then." The complainer grouses.

"...ma-manipulate" is echoed.

"See, even that one gets it." Bandages adds as he motions to the twitching boy.

The complainer side-eyes them both, a grimace perpetually on his face. "Yeah...even the retard gets it. Great."

"...r-retard?" this time his echo falters a bit, but it’s disregarded as the entity continues.

 "I did not tell you to kill. I told you if you chose to do so, you have the chance for a better life. You chose a better life."

"I-" finally the girl speaks. She holds up a hand to notify them that she will join, "I don't understand the problem. I am thankful for this chance."

In response to this, the entity bows his head to show her thanks is accepted and appreciated.

"Seriously?" Bandages seems genuinely shocked, "This is the last thing I need in my life, it's a mess as it is. I..." He sighs loudly "Fuck me this sucks."

"Well, as annoyed as I was with my family, I can't help but feel like it was probably better than being with fuckface and clownbitch. Not to mention slimefuck." The complainer motions back to the creature still sitting by the entrance to imply who the oh-so-creative nickname is referring to.

Before the entity can respond, Sergeant says "don't talk about LJ like that, he hasn't done anything to be called clownbitch."

Groaning, the complainer asks "Oh fuck, there's two clowns then?"

"It is indeed a mess. You all have this in common." The entity disregards that entire exchange and nods to Bandages, his voices actually showing some semblance of sorrow for this fact. "But here, it will be made better. _Easier_." He turned to face the complainer. "If you did not appreciate your family, you would not have done what you did."

"I feel like killing myself would be easier. Or y'know, some unfortunate family and taking their place so I can be on my own." The complainer sighs, "and I would have just  _contemplated_ it had you not fucking told me to go ahead and  _do_  it."

"I didn't do anything wrong." Bandages adds, only to be dismissed by the entity as the twitching boy had.

"I did not force execution. That was your choice. Do you not desire a life in which you can live freely? My tasks are small and nothing new to you. You will be given everything to live, and be allowed to do as you please. Without my guidance and supervision, your life will become strenuous. You will live without any of the luxuries you so appreciate."

Sergeant has leaned back against the curved wall, watching everyone throughout this conversation. "You guys seem to think we gotta be one big family or some shit. I'm just trying to get to know you for the day, then after this you guys have a house and everything you want, really, what's the big deal?"

"You literally stalked me and drove me insane to the point of killing my family! How the fuck is that not forced execution?!" He turns to the Sergeant and motions to the entity. "I don't want to live with the thing that stalked me and fucked up my life in the first place! How is that hard to understand?!"

The entity's shoulders slump a bit and he says "...I was checking in. To see if you were considering it."

"C-checking in..." After the falter before, the brunette seems to have fully recovered.

"Checking in." The complainer rolls his brown eyes. "Wow, thanks. Your support is so appreciated."

Bandages has quieted. He is looking at the complainer with a small touch of shock. In a way, he feels better about what he's done, knowing the other's crimes.

"You were all unhappy in your daily lives. I offered you what you desired, then offered refuge against the consequences-"

The complainer interrupts immediately: "Every teenager hates their parents... That's just how it works!"

"Then you would not have _killed them_."

"k-killed them..." The brunette's fingers seem to have finally found the edge of his mask and he's scratching at the edge

"Normally no, but when you have some fucking demon stalking you, it's hard not to go a little fucking crazy." The complainer growls.

Next to him, Bandages quietly says "I did what I had to..."

"f-fucking demon." His neck cracks, "fuck", and again "F-Fuck".

Rather than answering either of them, the entity nods his head from Sergeant to the twitching boy, and the silent order is quickly acted upon. Sergeant moves forward and pulls the kid's hand away from the mask.

The scarred hand twitches, but he does not protest the movement. The Sergeant drops the hand back to the kid's side, and after seeing that that is settled, the entity faces the two complaintive teens once more. "Stay, and if you do not adjust, you can leave." With that, he vanishes from the room.

 "Fuck--" The complainer spat toward the empty space where the entity had been.

Once the entity takes his leave, Sergeant wastes no time in excitedly starting up again. He exclaims, "so c'mon guys! Have a seat" then hurries toward the archway and motions exaggeratedly toward the chairs. "Our very own Clown Bitch has freshly baked deserts."

Hesitantly, the girl steps forward, being passed up only by the twitching boy. The two take seats next to each other.

As the Sergeant speaks again, the complainer just rolled his eyes but did as he asked. If he had to be here, he may as well not turn down the offer of sweets.

The sergeant peeks back out, first at Bandages, who has not yet complied, then toward the humanoid creature, near the foyer's entrance. From their position, he cannot be seen, but somehow the sergeant knows he has not yet moved. He calls "Jacky, do ya need a snickers?" in a sweet, yet patronizing voice.

As he says this, Bandages loses all hesitation, and hurries forward and through the archway, somehow not enjoying the idea of being near the creature that is now approaching.

Said creature's head tilts as he crawls forward. Nearing, he stands to his full height: much taller than the complainer, yet still shorter than the faceless entity.

From inside the dining room, the complainer looks out to the Sergeant and the creature and asks "...Is he why those commercials are a thing..?"

To which the sergeant nods his head. "He's not himself when he's hungry."

At that, the complainer only responds "...I hate this house."


	2. Disaster Dinner.

The remaining group gets seated, and as they do, the Sergeant pulls a candy bar from his pocket and tosses it to the masked creature. What he achieves was one of those things he likely wouldn't have been able to if he would have tried- the candy bar stabs directly into the mask's eye and sticks in the goo beneath.

Neither pay attention to this.

The candy bar sinks in and that is that.

 

Rather than joining them, the sergeant moves to the other end of the table where a tv sits with an n64 on top. He casually plugs it into the nearest outlet and flicks it on, then moves to a seat next to the slime creature.

The two of them may not have taken notice of the candy sinking into the goo, but looking up, they realize the newcomers certainly had.

Bandages has paled greatly on the visible side of his face, and because of this, the Sergeant laughs.

From across the table the complainer, with a look of absolute disgust, says "Yeah, I don't think this is going to work out."

"Ya get use to him, really," The sergeant moves to touch the creature's shoulder, opening his mouth to continue only to be interrupted by the complainer.

"I don't want to."

"---Or you **don't** , and you stay out of the room he's in. It's pretty easy, it's a big place."

Bandages takes this advice immediately, stands, moves and sits as far away from everyone as he can.

The Creature doesn’t take notice of either the conversation nor the boy he seems to have scarred for life. He is preoccupied, seemingly looking for something on the table that fit his taste in particular. Upon noticing this, Sergeant rises again, moving thoughtfully, but letting his gaze settle on the complainer as he starts up again.

Reluctantly, still staring with disgust in the creature's direction, he asks "Speaking of the rooms, do we get our own rooms or do we have to have roommates?"

The Sergeant moves to grab a particular plate of lightly roasted meat and plops it in front of the creature. These are parts that should not be consumed by humans, but you may have to look at them closely to see that. "You've got your own."

“Thank god,” the complainer mutters absently in response.

The creature lifts up his mask very slightly and grabs a piece with a large, clawed hand then shoves it into the dark abyss. If one was to look closely, they’d see what seems to be tentacles grasping onto it as it nears.

From the other end, Bandages mumbles " _Ay dios mios..._ "

The girl is trying her best to keep her attention off the creature, despite being absolutely enamored with it. She doesn’t want to be rude, and thus decides to look to the twitching boy instead. She does so with curiosity, albeit less than she has in the creature, but it’s still there. It’s soon pulled away, however, by the sound of clamoring behind her.

Through a smaller, less decorated archway, beyond which a kitchen can be seen, enters an odd, monstrous monochromatic clown, with the deserts the scarred man was referring to, on silver platters in his grip.

  It nears the table, leaning over the empty seats between the girl and Bandages, both of which kind of slink away at the presence. "Who’s ready for a SWEET PARTY?" He questions jovially, looking at the newcomers with white-blue eyes.

"Are you suggesting my parties aren’t already sweet?" Already standing again, The Sergeant moves around the table with surprising grace to help the clown set his goods down.

 The complainer sighs with some relief. Despite his earlier tantrums against staying at the mansion, he perks up at the sight of the desserts.

Watching the Clown set down the sweets then take a seat to partake in some, Bandages mutters once more "... I really hope this is a dream."

With the desserts placed, the sergeant gives a general motion to all the food. "Dig in," he says happily, before and doing just that himself.  The twitching brunette however seems to take the order to eat a bit too literally, and leans forward, putting his face right into the plate.

At the sound, The Sergeant pauses, looking at the twitchy boy with his eyes narrowed.

The girl freezes, watching him carefully to see if he's going to move at all. When he doesn't, she lightly taps his shoulder.

The complainer just stares at the freak in short silence before asking "did he just die?" A question which he doesn't actually wait for an answer to, as his attention is drawn away by the random tv at the table that starts to buzz with static. The thought to throw something at it comes to mind but as the freak unfortunately begins to live again, he regains his attention.

The creature from across the table finishes his plate in record time, and once he did he grabs a napkin and dabs the bottom of his mask, finally paying attention to his surroundings. Immediately, he takes notice of the boy who is face first, lying in his mash potatoes."... That...is a rather interesting way to eat."

"Yeah, really went right for it. A hungry boy." The Sergeant says with a brow raised—he may have had both raised, but the more scarred side of his face didn't appear to  _have_  one.

Nodding, the creature agrees "a very hungry boy indeed".

The girl looks from one, to the other, back to the boy. The conversation around them is rather casual, and despite how unwilling she is to do so, she moves to tug at his shoulder, trying to sit him upright again.

The twitching boy pulls up then, his mask and goggles now covered in mashed potatoes.

On the other end of the table, there's a soft buzzing noise emanating. It takes a moment but a figure flicks on screen, distorted but there's something there at least "W-who are the n-newbies??" The voice, though glitched and distorted, sounds young.

At the question from the TV, the sergeant realizes he has not actually asked the names of everyone in the room. He frowns deeply, realizing that would likely make any novel tedious to both write and read, with the continuous use of epithets, then looks around. "What would everyone here like to be called?"

The girl, after looking absently back to the tv and the sergeant, returns her attention to the concerning behavior of the twitching boy. She moves to grab a napkin, a hand still firmly set on his shoulder so he wouldn't fall back into it, and she holds it out to him so he could clean himself up.

When the twitching boy does nothing to try and clean himself up, the girl's not entirely sure what she expected. She just sighs quietly and moved a somewhat shaking hand to wipe the food off for him.

Watching them with a look of contempt, the complainer sneers "Are you two going to kiss or something?" to which the girl responds by shooting him a glare.

 Her expression melts to surprise quickly as the twitching boy, having only looked at the napkin rather than proceeding to help, mimics one word in particular: "k-kiss."

The expression worsens when, opposite of them, the creature muses "what an interesting development”.

Tensed and visibly irritated, she quickly finishes what she began, sloppily wiping away the mash potatoes and returning to her previous position.

As if lagging, the tv finally responds "Y-Ya didn't ask the their names y-y-yet??" The screen flickers out for a moment before coming back on with its blackened eyes seemingly looking at the unfamiliar faces.

The creature answers "no, he has not."

  "B-booo!" He flickers again and what sounds like laughter leaves the speakers. It's unsure what he's booing but at least he's amused.  

"Well I just tried and everyone ignored me." He tells the screen, then turns to point at someone at random: Bandages. "You, what's your name, pretty boy."

He just snarls slightly at that 'nickname' but forces himself to calm and instead sighs, "Devin, I guess."

"Ah, so very scary" the deep voiced creature jests once more.

The complainer shakes his head "You guess? What, are you not sure?"

Devin casts the complainer a glare, "Do you really wanna give 'em your name? Cuz I'm not sure I do just yet." He huffs and sinks in his seat.

Despite having also teased, the creature, who has been referred to as Jacky moments before, says "I tend to forget my original name. Do not fret."

"Yeah and you're super scary." The sergeant looks down to Jack as he's still standing at his side, but he soon points to the complainer. "What's your name?"

"If you do not say, Jeffery will simply make up one" Jack motions upward to the man at his side. "Something odd, like Reginold possibly"

"I  _am_  prone to nicknames," the sergeant, Jeffrey, nodded, eyes showing concern like this was something to worry over. "So what’s your name?" He wiggles his finger at the complainer again.

Rather than answering he says "Are you sure you don't just know us already? I mean didn't you kinda stalk us and all?"

Jeff's hand drops. "I didn't stalk you, Bossman did. The only reason I knew you guys were coming is because we had to get your rooms cleaned up."

Jack looks from Jeff, then back "It looks like he does not want to tell us his name, Jeff. Reginold the Rambunctious It is then."

"He  _is_  rambunctious."

"It is very fitting," Jack leans to look at the TV. "Do you not think Ben?"

The TV, Ben, does not seem to catch the joke and says "I m-mean I guuess, i-if you're fr-from England or some-somethingg."

"For the love of god, my name's Alex so stop calling me that." The complainer finally spits. His answer brings a victorious smile to Jeff’s face, then he moves on and points out to the girl.

"What's your name?"

She flinches at the acknowledgement before quietly saying "Tya."

Jack motions to Tya, looking back to Alex, "See how easy that was Alexander? Very."

Jeff seems pleased with how easy she was to get the information out of, then he points to the brunette. His eyes narrow, skeptical of whether or not he will be answered "Uh... what's your name."

"N-name" he repeats.

"W-well that's duuuu-dumb. Who names a kid name?" Ben's screen flickers and his eyes are now just staring at the freak.

Jeff however is fine enough with the answer. He didn't expect anything, but got one any way, and though he knows this is not accurate, he nods and accepts it. "Alright, Devin, Alex, Tya, Name, my name is Jeff."

"No, he said his name was n-name. Get it right." After correcting Jeff, Alex faces Jack particularly and firmly says" Also, don't call me Alexander”.

 A sound leaves Jack at this—it seems to be a laugh, somewhat hearty, and in no way cruel, but both the gurgling and growl behind it makes it difficult to actually _tell_.

Down the table, Devin cringes at this sound.

"This one is just Jack, plain Jack, but that one" Jeff points to LJ "is Laughing Jack. Or LJ. We call him LJ. And the TV is named Ben."

LJ snickers "its the brand name."

"H-hey! N-No it's not!" The screen flickers rapidly and the buzzing returns. He comes back frowning. "it's  _my_  name"

"What, you're not a TV?" Jeff looks toward him with feigned concern.

"Yes, yes, it is. They mean it in jest Benjamin. Jeffrey, try not to provoke him, you know what happened last week. And that goes for you too LJ."

Jeff finally takes back his seat next to Jack, sighing. "It's a loving joke, Ben." He assures him before looking back around at the new comers. "Eat up, and then I'll show you all to your rooms."

No one takes notice as his antics aren’t quite known yet, but this is an order that is not responded to by N-Name. He just remains sitting, staring blankly.

It takes a long moment before Devin, from over his own barely touched plate, questions "... Is he even allowed to eat?" as he eyes the mask that's on him.

"Probably not but at least that means there's more for us." Alex shrugs, looking up at it briefly before returning his attention to his plate made up of more sweets than anything else.

Noting this, Jeff hesitates. "Uh," he tilts his head, leaning forward to look at the mask. "You can take your mask off?"

He stays still for a moment, before grabbing the edges of the mask and pulling it down. Despite the goggles not being a part of it, he takes them off as well.

With his face uncovered, it quickly becomes clear why the mask was worn. His skin is heavily tinted grey, his eyes are clouded and dead, but the most notable problem is the large hole in his face that reveals almost all of his teeth on that side. The skin around it is indented and creased. It's clear this is scarring, and the group around him does not seem to take kindly to the sight.

Devin and Jeff both flinch and Tya draws back just a bit. She directs her attention quickly to her own plate of food, trying her best not to stare despite having a bit of interest in the scarring itself.

Alex on the other hand does not have the same sense of courtesy. He’s absolutely staring. A lot.

N-Name rubs one eye where there seems to be a black eye forming before CRACKING his neck. His face tenses, but he soon straightens and proceeds to do nothing.

Noticing this, Jeff says with uncertainty: "You can eat too?" to which the boy finally responds by lifting a utensil and poking at his food. He eventually takes a spoonful, puts it in his mouth and starts to chew, his head tilted to the side a bit so it doesn't fall out, as if he's done this before.

Tya had begun to do the same as N-Name did, picking up a fork and poking at a bit of hers as well. She takes a very small bite of potatoes before her attention is drawn back to the boy next to her. This is a mistake, because whatever appetite she had dies the moment she can see him chewing his food. Turning to look away quickly so she can keep from vomiting, she sees she's not the only one blatantly avoiding looking anywhere near N-Name. Down the table Devin has turned wide-eyed and white once again, and Alex seems to have completely lost his appetite. He's shoved his plate foreword, and is hiding his head on his arms.

The only person that seems to be able to look at him is Jeff, and after a moment of doing so, he just rises, turns, and leaves without a word.

Muffled by his arms, Alex asks, "Can I never be near this guy again?"

Despite the nasty scene, Devin just swallows and moves to try to eat. He's seen the others eat then, and feels more comfortable knowing it doesn't seem to be poisoned.

Moments later, Jeff returns with a large bandage in his hand, and moves around to the side N-Name is sitting on. He leans over, muttering "be still for a second" and opens the bandage. When he swallows and sits still, Jeff sloppily plops the patch over the scarred hole. He pats it down, making sure it's nicely stuck, then says "carry on", as he returns to his own seat.

Next to him, Tya seems very relieved, having been worried food was going to fall out of that and onto her. With it covered, she goes back to her own meal, poking at it more so than actually eating it. There are a few very small bites, but after a second she sets the fork aside and leans toward N-Name.

Quietly, she asks "do you talk?"

In response, he slaps the air in front of him for seemingly no reason at all, then repeats "t-talk."

"... I'm taking that as a no..." Devin adds, having been listening but still not looking, from his spot a few chairs down.

Across from them, Jeff's eyes narrow once again and he leans forward. He thinks for a moment on the format he'd used before to get N-Name to do things, and says "You can.. say words?"

"W-words" His face contorts as he shakes his head for no reason at all, before slapping the air again

"Damn," Jeff leans back as if he's been defeated, but perks up before he accepts it entirely. He tries again with "Tell us what about yourself."

"D-Damn. Yourself."

This time he falls back entirely and huffs, picking at his food as he pouts. With this defeat, he eats in silence, allowing them to all go about their business while he wallows. When they finish, he gets to his feet and looks to the new comers. "Would you all like to see your rooms, now?"

As if to add insult to injury without even knowing, the brunette repeats "r-rooms".

Everyone disregards his echoes.

"Yeah I guess so," Devin is too tired and full to really think about anything at this point, so he accepts, and once he does, Tya does just the same. Jeff motions for them to follow, and as they all stand to do so, LJ chuckles.

"Have fun! And hope You enjoyed the treats!"

This makes Devin shudder, the overly joyous tone sounding ominous when coming from a monster like that, and he follows Jeff closer.

As they begin out, Tya turns to look at Alex, curious to know if he will be following. Jeff turns to look in from just outside the archway, eying the incomplete group inside.

As they wait for the two others, N-name slips a hand idly to his mouth. At first glance it appears he's chewing on his nails. Because of how subtly he does it, Jeff does not at first see that it isn't his fingernails. He actually does something of a double take, looking back to the dining room, then whipping back around and pulling his hand from his mouth.

Blood drips down his fingers and his chin both at that point, and in response Jeff just grimaces. "Icky..." He releases the hand and looks to Alex as he finally joins them.

Since N-Name successfully destroyed his appetite he was beyond ready to get to a room. "I can finally get the hell from that freak?"

"F-freak?" He echoes, paying no mind to the blood that's on him, or the blood that Jeff cringes at then moves to wipe on his t-shirt. For a serial killer, he really doesn't seem to approve of blood, at least not when it's mixed with saliva.

Regardless, he nods his head and starts back toward the foyer, where he stops and waits at the bottom of the polished wooden stairs that curve and lead up to the second floor.

Devin has elected to keep his head down, N-Name follows without question, carrying his goggles and mask in his unbitten hand. Alex follows eagerly, and Tya does so hesitantly.

With their cooperation, Jeff continues up, heading to the right wing. The floors up there are made of dark wood, unlike that of the foyer, which appears to be marble. The stairs are spotted with red carpet, and the railing is carved finely. In the empty space between both wings, there's a large window, from which they can see out into a 'back yard' if one so calls it.

Though the sky above is empty, the outside isn’t pitch black. Wherever the light originates from is unknown, but it gives off just enough to show the contents. Nearest the estate, there looks to be a greenhouse and a pool bordered by some flat, grassy ground. This extends out a little ways before abruptly turning to a dense, mist-blanketed forest of massive, dully colored evergreen trees.

Jeff pays no mind to the beautiful view, having seen it dozens of times since he came to the estate. He continues down the third hall on the right wing, traveling a few steps down before saying "Here we are. They are mostly the same, all the same size, so you can pick the ones you want."

N-Name thoughtlessly complies, walking into the first he sees without question or examination. Jeff moves a few steps only to say "please don't screw your hands up"—though he's pretty sure this is entirely lost on the boy. Drawing back, Jeff asks "whoever takes the room next to his, can you take care of him?"

And like that, Devin saunters away to the room farthest away from the others, and Alex scurries into the one next to Devin's, saying "have fun with the freak, blondie," before slamming the door in both Tya and Jeff's faces.

With this being the last one left, Tya sighs and moves to the one next to N-Name.

Jeff stands there for a moment, looking at the four closed doors as if this has all been much more uneventful than he'd thought it would be, then he turns on his heel and starts off down stairs again. 


	3. N-Name Needs to Calm the Fuck Down.

 

Through the doors, accompanying the sound of leaving footsteps, they hear Jeff say "tomorrow, we'll have a good ol' house tour!" but with that, the man is gone.

Inside the rooms, Devin, Alex, and N-Name immediately take to their beds.

Alex hides his face in the plush, satin of his pillow, and quietly allows himself to release the emotion that has burned in him the moment he'd realized what he'd done to his own family. The sleep that comes after he drains himself was light and dreamless.

Devin perhaps has less luck in his endeavors, simply because he can't manage to sleep at all. After much tossing and turning for what seems like forever, he lays awake, eyes to the ceiling, and letting the thoughts of the life he left behind run through his head. Thoughts of those he got rid of to put him where he is, as well as those he may have hurt by disappearing. In these thoughts, he finally manages to start to doze, though not for long.

Across the hall, Tya hadn't even tried to sleep. For a long while, she sat on the edge of her bed, studying her surroundings absently. Being alone, she realizes just how exhausted she's become, and had her chance to actually think over the entire situation she'd put herself in. Her mind wanders, but not far before she realizes she's  _free_. One hand moves to grasp the opposite wrist and she rubs it firmly, clawing into the fabric of her sleeve, and then she dismisses her thoughts entirely and stands.

She takes a shower, pleased by the things she's been supplied with to do so and the bathroom over all. It's roomy, and though the rest of the house has a borderline gothic style to it, the bathroom is light. The walls are stone, just like all of the outer walls of the estate seemed to be. There are doors on either side that lead into a vanity area for either bedroom—she knows because she peeked through to see N-Name bundled up in blankets on his own king-sized bed.

On either side, there are small linen closets at the end of the vanity areas, then granite counters, a mirror that spans from wall to wall, and a sink with shell engravings on the inside. The floors are tiled with off-white ceramic, even in the shower.

The shower and bath tub are separate- the shower and toilet share a side while the bath tub, up on higher ground with a step to it, is large enough for more than one person.

As she showers, the doors were left open- she didn't fear the boy next door would suddenly grow a personality just to break in and stare at her boobs through the shower's glass walls. Her shower is long and careful. She has to be cautious of herself because her body aches, and her wounds are still fresh. But after some time, she gets out, she dresses, then peaks into her neighbor's room as she wraps her long, blonde hair into a towel.

Nearing his bedside, she softly asks "do you want to shower?" but she is not given a response. Really, she didn't expect an answer, but she finds herself compelled to lightly nudge him with a bit of curiosity. "You're not dead right?" As she leans to look over him, she notices his soft breathing and the fact that his eyes are closed. He's nuzzled into his blankets, and she draws back, taking all this as a sign that he is indeed asleep. She thinks to take a step back, intending on leaving him be so she can retire to her own bed, but it's his expression that keeps her from doing so- there's actual emotion there, though from what, she can't tell. It seems to be fear, and with that in mind she softens just a bit. Leaning over him, she is close, and it takes only a bit more examination to see that he seems to be shivering.

She looks his body over closely, taking note of the thermal overlay on him- it doesn't  _appear_  cold. But even so she draws back entirely, turning and heading over to her own room where she pulls one of four blankets off her own bed. He is wrapped in all of his own, but if he is shivering, she guesses another might do. So she wraps it around herself. The walk is short, but her own body is significantly warmer than a normal person's. She hopes that she may warm the blanket at least a bit on the short trek.

When Tya reaches the other side, she pulls the blanket off herself and tosses it over him, letting it settle before she tucks one of it's edges in just a bit to conceal the warmth. She turns, but before she can get too far, she's brought pause once more, this time by something more alarming: he  _speaks_.

"  _Lyra..._? " His quiet voice  _shakes_ , and for once, he did not repeat anyone. Under all the blankets, he starts to stir, seemingly of his own accord " Lyra... is that you? "

At the door, she turns to look back at him. She remains quiet, and because of her silence, his movements seem to get more frantic. Though he had been the one to roll himself in the blankets, he now seems as if they are constricting—as if he's panicking.

"Lyra!" His voice is frantic, high, and loud, and with the turn it took, Tya actually flinches. Through labored breaths he stutters out "L-Ly-Ly—Th-the road!"

She froze in the doorway to conjoined bathroom, looking back toward him flailing on the bed. She fought the urge to slink back into her own room and pretend as if this wasn't happening, but realized quickly this wasn't an acceptable reaction. Immediately, her thought was to fetch Jeff, but she reminded herself she did not know her way around the estate. If she could find her way to him, he would be able to help her back of course, but that was  _if_  she could, and if she couldn't, she'd be wandering around angrily for a long while, while this kid suffered.

Slowly, she starts in his direction, but again she is halted by more screams. His neck cracks violently, arms still flailing, so she picks up again, a bit faster. When she nears him, she tugs at the covers to help free him but her tugging only seems to worsen it. With it, he starts lashing out more, and his screaming picks up as well. "Get away! Get a-aw-way fr-from me!" Finally he breaks free from the blanket cocoon. "M-ma-make them s-stop! Make them s-st-stop!"

At these screams, Tya really contemplates complying. She steps back briefly, but doesn't allow herself to leave as she so wishes. Instead, she takes hold of one of his arms, and firmly demands "calm down".

It can't be heard by Tya with the rustling of the bed and the panicked sounds of the boy she's trying to restrain, but across the hall, a door falls open, the sound being signaled by the squeak of the hinges.

Devin had just begun to drift off when the screaming startles him awake once more. At first, his response was anger- throwing the blanket off himself and rising until he realizes this is something that requires  _concern_ \- someone is screaming in a particularly odd house like this. He makes his way across, a hand touching the handle, but before he opens it he stops to listen.

On the other side, N-Name's state is only worsened by the roughness of Tya's touch. He desperately tried to break from it, screaming "You k-killed her! Ge-get away! You killed her and sh-she's g-gone and it-it's  **your fault**! You fucking m-mo-monster—fucking hear-heartless fucking mo-monster!"

As his screaming continues, he grows increasingly agitated, breaking a hand free from Tya's grasp and begins swiping- trying to punch or scratch the one restraining him. His clouded eyes are tightly clenched shut, and even with her shaking him and ordering him, she cannot get them to open.

As he breaks free from her grasp, she reaches to restrain him once more, but misses in grabbing. As she tries to draw back, his sloppily made fist connects with her mouth with as much force as he can muster.

She yelps, drawing back quickly but not releasing the arm she still has.

Upon hearing the sound, Devin hurriedly opens the door, only to be met by a dimly lit room, where he can barely make out what's happening.

At first, Tya doesn't even notice the presence of another. After being struck, she growls quietly, forcing the arm she's holding down flat to the bed. She does her best to pin it, though admittedly she doesn't have a lot of force to act with, especially with the injuries littering her torso from the decisions made before she arrived at the estate. "Wake. Up." She demands once more, to no avail. With this anger, she barely manages to calm herself, but a quick thought gets her voice to soften. She leans down and whispers to him "listen to me, you are not in danger."

For a moment it seems to have worked, his actions calming, though he's still tense and his breathing is still heavy, hitching every few seconds. In this moment, Tya turns slightly, finally acknowledging the hall's light as it fills into the room. She can't make out who is at the door, but she doesn't question it. Instead she only says "turn the light on—"

As the command leaves her, N-Name starts to speak again. "I don't want to do this... I don't want to do this..." he starts quietly, his arm twitching in her hands. She hasn't lightened up on her hold in the least, and now that she has the chance she moves to grab his other arm. This seems to set him off again. "I don't want to do this, I want to see my mom, I want to see if she's okay—bring me back home!" As his sentence closes, it becomes a scream once more, and he forcefully pushes upward on her grasp, trying to break it.

The light finally flicks on as the screaming starts up again, but Tya doesn't look back to see who it is that has hopefully come to her aid. Instead, she begins to try and pull him up again, hoping that jostling him will wake him, but, to her dismay, it has the opposite effect. Instead he screams again, fighting her grasp "I want to go back! Even if she hates me,  **I want to go back**!"

Finally, Tya releases entirely as her actions only seem to be making it worse. She huffs in annoyance, then takes a few steps away so she can look to the door without getting hit.

Devin hasn't yet made any move to help, and because of this, she snaps "Can you help me wake him the fuck up?" She leans forward again, shoving N-Name quite roughly. He rolls, but doesn't wake, only continues screaming incoherently—the only thing that can really be made out is something about a car crash, but she thinks little of it. "I'm about to set him on fire."

Watching a moment longer, Devin's only response is to say "what the  _fuck_ ," though to what particularly, no one knows. Perhaps just the situation in its entirety? He takes steps forward, looking to N-Name with annoyance on the side of his face that can be seen. Under his breath, he just mutters "god damn it".

Tya pays little mind to Devin's annoyance as she's much too distracted by her own. It's growing increasingly worse, and because of this, Tya decides to instead move off the bed and grab the covers. She takes a tight hold of them, then tugs as hard as she can manage to use them as leverage to pull him off the bed. Seeing her actions, Devin, in attempt to be helpful, goes to grab hold of N-Name once more, choosing the lower half as its closest. Just as he tries to take hold so he can begin to pull the boy as well, N-Name slips from his grasp and kicks him directly in the jaw.

Tya gasps and he reels back momentarily, shouting himself though his is more due to pain than whatever the fuck is happening with N-Name. "Son of a  **bitch** ," he growls.

"Are you alright?" She releases the blankets as if she has the intention of going to Devin's aid, but he doesn't even glance at her.

"G-Get off me you little  **fucker**!" N-Name's voice is deeper with this shout, as if he's mimicking someone but neither get a moment to think about it before Devin's hand pulls back, then swipes forward with a loud  **smack**.

She flinches at the sound echoing off the high ceiling, looking wide eyed between the two for a moment as she tried to comprehend what had happened. N-Name went still, and as she caught on, there was the small hint of a smirk on her lips, brought by satisfaction toward the strike.

Finally, his eyes open, and he looks terrified, from Devin, to Tya. The terror soon melts to confusion, that only increases as Tya crawls onto the bed next to him, then more so as Devin moves to grab his collar as if readying for another. He snarls his glare intense enough in itself to kill a man.

But Tya sets a hand on his arm quite firmly, showing she will now stop any unjust hits given, and she asks N-Name "Are you going to talk now?"

"I-I....what?" he replies, looking from Devin, back down to her.

"Are you going to actually be able to talk to me." her question is more of a command which she gives no time to respond to. "Because I need to know if I can go to bed or if I need to stay with you." she pulls her hand away from Devin as she bitterly speaks, touching the spot N-Name had previously hit her, to see if it as bleeding or just aching. Blood on her fingers say her lip is busted, and the ache on the side of her face says there will likely be a bruise soon. 

N-Name goes to respond, starting with " I m-me-mean it depends, Just tell me whe-" but he's cut off quickly with a sudden yelp in pain. He grasps his head, falling limply forward. As he doesn't move to catch himself, and Devin doesn't hold him as he goes limp, he falls off to the floor.

As he hits the ground, an uncharacteristic squeak leaves Tya, but Devin only mutters something foreign in a tone that's entirely unimpressed.

She slips to the edge of the bed, curious to see if he's still alive, then lets herself slide onto the floor as well. Again she pauses, wondering whether or not she really wants to help, only to recall that it was a  _serial killer_  that said she needed to care for him. She wasn't one to value her own life, but it still seemed within her best interest to comply, so she moves to pull N-Name upright. As she does, her brows furrow and she frowns, leaning to look at him better. "Are you alright?"

He only cracks his neck in response, looking forward with dead eyes and a blank expression.

"Yeah he's fine." Devin snaps, holding his jaw. The bandaged part seems to be stained red from the sudden impact on raw skin.

She is unsure of both N-name and Devin's response, and whether or not she should feel stupid because she's trying to talk to him again- for a moment she got a response, so she's confused. "Are you going to be okay through the night if I try to sleep?"

"S-Sleep" He repeats back to her.

Her shoulders drop with what seems like disappointment, but she brushes it off and looks to Devin. "Are you okay?"

"I'm going back to bed." His voice is filled with anger, but he looks about as void of emotion as N-Name. "My head's killin me"

"...K-killing"

Devin turns to storm out, and as he starts toward the door, Tya sheepishly offers a small thanks for his help. He gives only a nod before pulling the door closed. It took all his effort not to slam it, and fortunately for the door, his attention was more focused on his own bleeding face to truly take his anger out.

As the door closes, Tya moves to stand, grabbing his mask and mouth guard then holding her hand out to N-Name. "Come on." She demands, and he complies by grabbing the offered hand with no objection.

Quickly, Tya realizes her mistake, looking at his gross, bitten fingers and sighing softly. Though she knows that it's useless at this point, she speaks anyway. "I'm going to bandage your hands, and you are going to stay with me. I'll have an easier time keeping an eye on you if you're in close proximity..."

She starts toward her room, pulling him along. When they reach the other side, she sits him on her bed and firmly says "wait". Then she turns and heads back to the connection again, where she enters the vanity area on her side and searches the cabinets below the sink for any sort of bandaging. She had intended to use them for herself, given the fact that the worst of her wounds was taking it's time in calming with the blood flow. For a moment she wondered if she should perhaps have someone around look at it, but realized quickly that she didn't know if anyone was even qualified to do so. 

Fortunately, they were supplied with bandages, though honestly she guessed it was necessary given their apparent occupations.

Returning, she stops to watch as N-Name swats aimlessly at the air in front of him. She sighs, then sits on the edge of her bed and waits until he lowers his twitching hands.

When he settles, she takes the injured one and begins bandaging his cut up fingers. She does each individually, needing to take small breaks as he tics. She's still not sure of the movements, but she allows time for them and keeps a light hold of him to not restrain him anymore.

She draws back as she finishes, watching his fist clench and unclench out of urge more so than emotion. His dead eyes stare forward rather than at her, even as she studies him. If she had the capability, she likely would have noted the familiar smell of smoke and gasoline on him, but her sense of smell was nearly nonexistent. But she  _can_  see. There is blood smeared all across his grey skin and as she looks closer, her brow furrows. She asks "do you still have mash potatoes in your hair?" then raises a hand to pull at one of the clumped, nasty curls.

A decision she quickly regrets, and shows by giving herself a disgusted look. He clearly had no intention of showering, and she wasn't about to bathe him outright, so she stands again with a sigh. 

She disappears once more into her vanity area. From the linen closet, she grabs a rag, then wets it with warm water and returns to him, where she first goes for a smear of blood on his face, then to his hair.

For once, his expression actually changes, wrinkling up in response to the sudden weird sensation. As she notices this, she draws back and smiles. "Is this bothering you?"

"B-bothering" he repeats, then shakes his head violently not in response, but due to a tic. The movement sends out some potatoes as well, which Tya sighs and grimaces at, though this time her expression is different- she doesn't seem genuinely annoyed, rather  _playfully_. She's actually quite amused by the behavior, and raises a hand to brush off some of the fly away potatoes before going back to cleaning him off.

As she does this, she quietly asks "why will you not talk now? You started to, but now you won't." 

He doesn't echo her this time, instead just cracks his neck, but it isn't entirely meaningless. He actually looks at her for once.

"Still nothing?" at this point, she assumes it's going to remain the same, but she has the urge to talk anyway.

"No-Nothing."

Tya sighs, a small smile showing at the illusion of conversation presented. Rather than continuing for the moment, she leans to finish up with his hair, then sits beside him once more and starts to scrub the blood off his arms.

There is some time of silence, but as she continues, she finds the urge coming forward again and says "I don't want you to be dirtying up my stuff if you're going to be in here..." She seems to pause, both in her words and actions, and looks up at him. Her brow furrows and she simply orders "Talk."

"....T-talk?" this is said with an inflection that once again brings her pause.

"Yes?"

"...Ta-talk. T— _echt_ ," he cranes his neck back and rolls it to the side then keeps it there.

Tya quiets again, and finishes cleaning his hands, then turns to toss the rag with a neatly folded pile of dirty clothes sitting in a chair not far from them. She stands and sighs, in the middle of which she's caught by a yawn that seems to annoy her. "You can stay here, or go back to your room, but if you start screaming again, I am going to gag you. Are you capable of making a choice between going or staying?"

"S-staying" He repeats to her, only to elicit yet another sigh. She can't tell, but she was mostly sure this wasn't a real answer. Regardless, she flicks her lights off, then crawls into her bed and hides entirely underneath the covers where she remains, trying to sleep for about an hour and a half.

After so long of not falling asleep, she finally peeks out to see if he's done anything, and when she sees he hasn't, she says "lay down or something, would you? Jesus."

"Je....sus?" He sounds somewhat unsure about that, but after a moment, he just flops down next to her.

"Don't scream, just try to sleep." She retreats under the blankets once more.

He repeats the word try, but doesn't actually proceed to do so at all. Instead, he just seems to be  _waiting_.

 


	4. Get the Fuck Up, Jesus Christ.

 

When morning came, it seemed that one of four newcomers fully slept through the night. Alex had remained shut up in his room all night, even when N-Name caused a commotion, though whether or not he was actually asleep or rather just ignoring the scene entirely, had yet to be seen. He wasn't  _fond_  of N-Name in the least, and before his presence in the Estate, he had dealt with a screaming four year old sister enough to build up a proper immunity to the mid-night disruptions. It did wake him, but he soon drifted back into a depression induced slumber.

After the commotion calmed, Devin had angrily returned to his room to tend to his new wounds upon his raw, burned skin, and after he hastily did so, he flopped onto his own bed and finally managed to get in a few hours.

Tya and N-Name on the other hand did no such thing. After his initial nap, N-Name only lied on his back, staring blankly at the ceiling in a girl's bed. Any other teenage boy likely would have swooned and needed a cold shower at the very thought of laying so close to a small blonde wearing nothing more than loose shorts and a tank top. But as she'd thought before, he wasn't suddenly going to grow a personality just to stare at her tits.

She had remained fully beneath the blankets, laying still and quiet for hours. One would easily guess she  _was_  asleep, and perhaps for a moment she was. It felt mostly like she was in that odd state between sleeping and being awake, where, if something happened, you get started awake and wonder if that was reality or dream? Nothing pulled her from it, and narration is only rambling to get a better feel for how little sleep she was actually getting.

When she took into account that she was, in fact, not getting any fucking sleep at all, she uncovered herself and idly tried to persuade N-Name into speaking to her, to no avail.

 

 

Soon, the light shown into the outer rooms; those with the grey stone walls that had windows to actually see into the surrounding misted forest. Yet even with the light, if one looked out into the grey-blue skies, they'd see that there was no sun looming overhead, nor was there any moon the night before.

The four newcomers remained restlessly in their beds as the other's in the house woke up and began their business. Breakfast was made two hours after sunrise, and those that had woken up in time sat around to enjoy it. Afterwards, things went about normally for all residents except Jeff. 

 

 

Well rested and sated, the scarred man makes his way upstairs once again with a freshly cleaned pot and pan. Down their hall, he stands in the center of all the rooms and raises them, bringing them together with force. The sound echoes down the hall and back, and making all the teens flinch in their beds. Beneath the clanging he bellows "time to get up, ya lazy sacks o' shit!"

For a moment, it seems no one responds to his loudness, but soon enough Tya's door slings open and she glares out at him. He only offers a pleased smile.

She opens her mouth to scold him, but before she can manage, N-Name moves out the door passed her, bringing Jeff pause in his pot banging.

He waggles an eyebrow (just the one as he doesn't have two), as N-Name comes to stand at attention.

"For a kid named Name, you sure did get around last night, didn't you?" He winks.

"Excuse me?" From the door, Tya leans out just a bit more and growls at that implication. The smirk on Jeff's face dies quickly, and he jokingly feigns surprise.

"Not getting around then?" He replies, only to have the teen at his side echo 'getting around'.

A look of absolute annoyance befalls her, and she pulls back, slamming her door quite roughly.

Once she's out of view, Jeff leans down and quietly says "You better watch it, I think I made your woman mad at you."

N-Name's neck cracks, and he keeps his head stuck at the odd angle. "Mad?" He repeats with an inflection that confuses Jeff briefly, but he's gets the feeling he's not being asked for an answer.

He turns forward again, looking down the hall to the end where a decorated window illuminates the dark wood floors. "I'm gonna go wake these little assholes up, then we are gonna go look around the place." He tells N-Name for absolutely no reason then turns to Alex's room first and knocks on the door before trying the handle.

As he does this, N-Name follows and knocks on the same door.

"That's the spirit. Go do that to one of the other doors though." He motions from Tya's to Devin's, and N-Name accepts the order by moving to the nearest: Devin's.

On the other side of the door Jeff has chosen, Alex glances up to make sure his door is actually locked. When he sees that his past self succeeded, he smiles, and buries his head under his pillow after saying "fuck you, clown.".

Jeff huffs at that, replying "I'm  _Jeff_ , not LJ."

"Jeff the clown then." Alex corrects.

From Devin's door, N-Name mimics "Jeff the c-clown"

With a small smirk, Jeff says "It's 'The Killer', according to literature" then looks to N-Name and points. "You, hush."

N-Name too easily complies, continuing on to knock incessantly on Devin's door. Though Jeff feels skeptical of that, he disregards it as Alex shouts back "don't care".

The three's pleasant conversation is interrupted by Devin angrily screeching "GO AWAY" from behind his own door.

N-Name goes to repeat this, but stops as he was told to shut up. His neck snaps to the side a bit more violently than it had done before, then he turns on his heel and begins down the hall to go... Well,  _away_. Jeff watches, nodding as if this learned trick is useful, but ultimately says "stay here!" to the promptly exiting boy.

When N-Name complies to that order, Jeff steps back and raises his pots again. As he starts banging them, he loudly sings "I'm gonna keep doing this till you guys get uuuuup."

But as if to quickly prove him wrong, a young woman shuffles down the hall. Her foot steps are unheard because of his noise, and he only notices when he's shoved aside so she can try the handle of Devin's door. As he lowers his pots and quiets, the fact that she's muttering 'tic toc' continuously, under her breath, suddenly becomes prominent.

Devin's door is also locked, and so she brushes her brunette hair back, one green eye locking on the knob while the other points, dead, directly ahead. Something about it is unsettling, as if it isn't  _real_.

There's only a second of hesitation before she whips a little rolled up cloth out of her back pocket. She undoes the cloth revealing a few pristine little b&e tools, which she promptly uses to unlock Devin's door.

It seems the order to  _shut up_ , has a time limit, because as she proceeds into Devin's room, muttering 'tic toc', N-Name proceeds to copy her. His comes less frequently than hers.

Inside, Devin is now hiding under his pillow again, desperately trying to get back to sleep. At first, he doesn't notice people have entered, but soon he flops over onto his side and hides further in his own pillow.

N-Name and Jeff fall in behind the girl, who heads directly for the night table at the side of Devin's bed. On top of it sits a very gaudy clock, depicting two particularly plump women in Victorian era clothing cradling a ticking clock.

She grimaces at it, but checks the time before grabbing it off the table.

At the sounds, Devin groans "Go. Away" a bit more harshly than he had before. And again, N-Name turns to comply.

Despite the fact that Devin utters a relieved "thank god" from under his pillow, Jeff whines and grabs N-Name's arm.

"Stop listening to Devin."

Meanwhile the woman has begun toward the bathroom that connects the two rooms. She stops at the door, realizing that too is locked, then goes for her tools once more, paying no mind to the fact that someone could be  _using_  the bathroom. She continues to unlock it while still muttering her 'tic-tocs'.

Mentally, Jeff takes a second to wonder what he expected was going to happen when he and Jane put alarm clocks in each room, but rather than defeatedly disregarding it as he likely should, he speaks up and says "you can't just leave these four their alarm clocks?"

She pauses, muttering the number four and looking to the one she held, then attempting to continue through to the conjoined room.

N-Name mimics her once more as she starts with the compulsive phrase, but as she finally gets the door open, her tic-tocs cease again. She turns and looks at N-Name with a difficult to read expression, but says nothing. She doesn't have time to, so she doesn't acknowledge the way his neck cracks again, or the way he slaps randomly at the air.

She proceeds through.

Devin sits up in his bed, his bandaging in disarray and his hair done very similarly. "I hate this place..."

Though this wasn't at all Jeff's doing, the man still looks victorious when he sees Devin is getting up. He says "just give her your clocks and you can go back to normal things. This isn't an everyday thing. Unless you have a clock and she finds out." Jeff pauses, watching as N-Name cranes his neck back and rolls his head to the side before tapping his fingers against the open hole in his face. Distracted now, he says "she's got... a thing."

No one questions this. Devin quirks a brow briefly, but soon sweeps his hair to the side and crawls out of bed to search for a mirror. He heads to the vanity, looking in to see the woman has broken through both doors and is getting into Alex's room.

Alex has continued to try and sleep, but when the woman enters, he peeks out briefly and sighs as he watches her go directly to the hideously designed clock at his bed side. "I have no idea what the fuck you're doing, but can you maybe leave through the bathroom and lock the fucking door again so I can actually sleep?"

This request is heard by her, but entirely unnecessary because Jeff is, as the hackers say, 'in'.

He doesn't bang his pots together again, he can hear Alex talking. Instead he just sings "wakey wakey, time to show you around the god damn estatey."

Behind him, N-Name says "tic-toc, wakey wakey."

"I'd keep your eyes on Clocky though, 'less you wanna wake up to Name's ugly mug."

At the mention of her name, she looks back at Jeff briefly, then to the kid behind him-- the one that's mocking her-- but she doesn't have time for that. She heads to Alex's door, locking it as requested but not taking into account the fact that it no longer matters, and heads across to Tya's room.

Alex watches all this unfold and sighs when she locks the asshole brigade in with him. He then glances at the clown before looking towards the window. "What floor are we on?"

"Tic toc, floor" One might consider this progress, since no one had immediately said tic toc for him to mimic.

"Third." Jeff answers, then furrows his brow. "Wait, no, second."

Emerging through the bathroom, Tya crosses her arms and looks at the group. "Why did a woman just come and take my clock?"

"Tic toc, take my clock."

When N-Name echoes this, he draws Jeff's attention, and the killer sweeps his hair back, leaning forward to look at him. "That one rhymed." He points out, then his already exaggerated smile grows devious. "Dude, Jeff is cool, Jeff is cool, Jeff is cool..." He proceeds to do this multiple more times, and as he does, Alex mutters 'fuck' while burying himself under his own pillow.

He uncovers his mouth enough to say "Jeff fucking sucks".

N-name's neck cracks once more, his head rolling to the side as he repeats "Jeff is c-cool."

"Damn it," Alex huffs.

"Jeff fucking s-sucks." N-Name seems to have lagged.

"FUCK." Jeff draws back.

Alex uncovers his face once more "all is right in the world."

"GET OUTTA BED."

"Why does everyone have to yell." From behind them, in the vanity area of Devin's room, Devin asks this question that's in the form of a demand.

Jeff turns back to look at him. "Why do you have to be no fun." He copies the tone precisely, then leans back to N-Name and starts saying "get up, get up, get up".

"Ge-get up." Neck cracks, and his hand raises to swat at nothing. His body is somewhat more tense, as if he's agitated at this point.

Fortunately, Jeff seems to have gotten his fill for the moment, so he straightens with a smirk and says "C'mon get up, I can introduce you to the rest of the family!" He pauses "And by 'rest of the family' I mean Jane! She's the only one left. Isn't she?" blue eyes narrow and he starts to count those in the house while mumbling names under his breath. After a moment he says "Does Clocky count? You met her. You saw her at least."

"Just gimmie a minute," Devin seems irritable likely because he  _is_  irritable. It seems he has made his face start bleeding again, and as Tya turns, a slight smile lingering from the ridiculousness of the events before her, she asks "do you need help?"

"N-No! I got it." Devin looks away, making an effort to hide his bad side from view.

Though skeptical of this reaction, Tya turns back toward the other three as Alex has started up again.

He groans, though at the mention of another girl, he lifts his head a bit. "Is she fucking crazy like the clock bitch?"

Jeff is left to think on the question before a surprised expression comes over him. "Actually I think she's one of the less crazy ones in the house. Her and Jack." Which is saying a lot, as Jack is a man shaped slug.

Alex lifts a bit at this, only to flop back down as N-Name loudly cracks his neck. Laying flat on his stomach, he growls "great, now before I actually get out of bed, can I please have something to drown out his god awful cracking?"

Jeff looks to N-Name as the boy simply replies with 'tic toc', he makes some gun like gestures with his fingers, in Alex's direction and takes off out the bedroom door.

"Was that a yes or was he being an ass?" Alex questions as he looks at the door.

"An Ass" N-Name answers.

"...Jesus christ."

"If you think about it, he may actually be answering you." Tya tries, only to have Devin reply with "I'd be shocked" and Alex, with "I highly doubt that."

She goes quiet, frowning deeply. "...I spent all night trying to get him to do  _something_."

"...Were you seriously up all night after I left?" Devin has begun working faster at his face.

She sighs heavily. "Yes."

Again, Alex lifts his head up a bit, this time actually glancing at who he is talking to. "You were trying to get the retard to do something with you? What was it?"

Devin's silent for a moment, then with the slightest bit of curiosity, asks: "Did it work?"

"tic tok. Re-re...retard" his expression falters, as if he knows this word already. His voice is softer, as if he's saying it more to himself.

"Yeah, you're a retard, now fuck off and let the competent people chat." Alex rolls his eyes then looks back to Tya, awaiting her response.

With the order given, N-Name starts toward the door, though his demeanor is different. His expression is one of recognition, but there's a flash of pain before it's neutral once again.

Before he can get far, another order is issued to 'stop'. When he complies, Tya moves to grab his wrist, then looks at Alex. "I tried to get him to talk to me, but he really just laid there all night... And I don't believe he's a  _retard_ , I think he's traumatized."

"With that screaming shit last night, it wouldn't surprise me." Devin mumbles bitterly still dabbing dried blood from the normal side of his chin.

Tya nods. "That's what leads me to believe he is, though I suppose I'm by no means an expert." She moves to N-Name's front, looking at him curiously before reaching up and lightly turning his head so she can look at the scarring on the side of his face as well as his black eye. She seems to just now have noticed it's uncovered, and briefly thinks that she will need to check her bed for the bandage, as it must have fallen off.

Drawing back from looking in the mirror, Devin casually says "I've had nightmares like that before."

"I have as well," Tya responds in a like manner, sighing and looking toward Devin's voice, rather than him. From her position, he can't be seen on the other side of the bathroom, only heard, but she continues regardless. "Was yours due to trauma as well?" Her own question comes out somewhat absently, as she takes a moment to seem confused at herself for saying this so openly.

He's silent and his eyes twitches slightly, he takes a deep breath and slowly responds, "Well, my face didn't do this to itself. So... yeah"

She raises a hand and makes a gesture as if to say 'fair enough', though he likely didn't catch it since he couldn't see her either. N-name copies the action and she watches as she says "But you see my point then."

"Yeah, I do." He runs his hands through his black hair a few times, "I was too pissed to really think about it last night."

"That's understandable, I was as well..." She speaks quieter then, feeling somewhat ashamed by that fact now that she thinks about it. "But I'd guess he's not taking this... change. As well as some of us."

Alex scoffs from his bed, raising again so he may better intervene. "Well I don't give a shit whether he's traumatized or not, we all went through hell and I'm not about to drop all my shit to tend to him because he's a fucking pussy."

"No one is dropping anything to tend to him," Tya corrects with confusion. "Nor is anyone asking you to do so, I was simply telling you I don't think he's retarded."

Devin sighs as he groggily stumbles over from his side. Without the navy blue, cable knit sweater he was wearing the previous night, he looks much smaller than before. Frail and thin.  "To be honest I still kind of think I'm dreamin' or some shit"

Alex shrugs, disregarding Devin entirely. "Well good, I'm going to keep calling him a retard though because for all I care, that's his name now."

"re..." N-Name begins, then cringes in pain again.

"Same." She says to Devin, studying him briefly now that she can see him. Soon, she turns back toward N-Name, her gaze to the ground. After a moment of contemplation, she says "I greatly prefer this dream over what was my reality" then she looks back up at N-Name to see the cringing, and she furrows her brow.

She sighs quietly, taking a step away from N-Name, but keeping hold of his wrist. Quietly, she orders "Come with me" then turns to start toward her room.

His expression empty again, he complies, and as they start off, Alex grins and calls "Have fun being his fucking mom, you psychotic bitch"

In response, all that's given is the loud  _bang_  as she slams her door behind her- and as Jeff enters the room once more he flinches.

Glancing back and forth, Devin shrugs and heads back to flop down on his own bed.

"What did you do to her??" Jeff tosses a pair of fluffy pink ear muffs onto Alex.

Smiling in triumph of warding off the bitch police, Alex shrugs giddily and says "I stated facts and for some reason she thought it reasonable to get mad about." His eyes are drawn to the bright pink ear muffs. "...What'd you do, steal these from a little girl?"

"She was a full grown woman, I don't speak to children. They creep me out." Jeff shakes his head as he says this casually, looking back at Tya's door, then around the room. "Did she take the parrot with her?"

"Was she some blonde bimbo or something?" Alex asked, though narrowing his eyes when he mentioned that little girls creeped him out. Honestly, he wasn't even surprised by that fact. "Thankfully, yes, she did."

"I don't remember, but she  _was_  a real bitch." Jeff said as if this was a 'fun fact'.

"So...you stole her ear muffs as revenge? Are you five?"

"I think the revenge was the murder and the ear muffs were the cherry on top. But if you'd prefer it the other way around, by all means, think about it that way!" Jeff waves and shuffles off to Tya's door. "Now come on!"

He raises a hand to knock on the door, only to be brought pause by a giggle, and something involving the word 'slutty'. Generally, he would barge in, but Jeff elects to stand there confused for a moment before that.

From Alex's open door, he hears the boy scoff once more and say "god you are so fucking gay, aren't you?"

"Bisexual, and are you two decent?" he asks the door in front of him.

Through it, Tya calls back "If that's what you want to call it."

It isn't a yes, but Jeff takes it as one and flings the door open. "Let's go then, come on, come on, hurry it up, I'm getting impatient."

N-Name is standing there with a black turtle neck over his head. It's difficult to tell whether or not this is on purpose, or he just has not yet pulled it down. He's making no effort to further do so, so it's suggesting that he's just staying like this.

On the floor next to N-Name is a discarded red crop top with what seems to be a padded bra.

Tya is standing in front of N-Name, partially dressed-- with only jeans and a bra on at this point, and a long sleeve shirt in her hands-- giving him a look that is difficult to decipher, though honestly she should be paying more mind to the reddened, fresh gash on her lower stomach and various cuts and bruises that are scattered over her torso. Shirtless, these are all visible but disregarded by everyone in the room. She seems too confused by N-Name, like she's wondering if she should be helping this or not. She just looks from N-name to Jeff and quietly says "this is decent enough, isn't it?" while motioning to the boy.

"Well he's covered." Jeff can find no problem with this.

With that, Tya turns to slip her own shirt on, her movements slow around the tender area on her stomach, then she grabs another and slips that on as well. Then one more- a cardigan. And then a scarf.

"A N Y W A Y." Jeff declares, N-Name parroting it behind him as he turns back to the hall. "LETS. GO."

Alex has leaned back on his bed, and when Jeff leans in the door, he asks "Are you sure I can't ditch the day tour and take the night one instead?"

"There is no night tour, so get the fuck out of bed."

From Tya's room, there's a soft thud, and then Tya quietly says "you should uncover your eyes at the very least."

As Tya and N-Name finally convene in the hall, N-Name finally able to see where he's going, Devin saunters out of his room looking annoyed but ready at least.

"Thank fucking god, we are getting somewhere." Jeff looks back at Alex.

"I clearly just love becoming an orphan, getting fucking kidnapped by the culprit, not allowed to actually sleep, and then to get forced on a tour with foster's home for demented fuck ups." Alex hissed, donning the gaudy ear muffs and finally storming out of his room to join the rest.

"f-fuckups"

"Yes yes, I know, we are wonderful and you love us, blah blah blah." Jeff waves dismissively then begins off, motioning for them to follow.

 


	5. Fuzzy Pink Earmuffs Aren't Scary.

As they start off, Devin breaks the odd silence—only odd because for once, Jeff isn’t talking and Alex isn’t complaining—with a sigh. As if on cue, Alex follows with a heavy one of his own.

 

And then as expected, N-Name does as well, earning a glare from Alex as he whispers “I’ll kill you.”

 

The group makes their way to the end of the hall, and Jeff fast-walks forward before striking a pose that indicates the three halls they now stand before. These halls make up the entirety of the estate’s upper right wing, and as the group joins him, they turn to look back at them.

 

The halls are identical, each opening facing them in the same manner and leading down to a floor-to-ceiling window that spans from wall to wall. On either side of every hall are two doors spread some ways apart. The gap between each is decorated in some way. From their distance, they can’t see what the decorations consist of, but if they were to move closer they’d see various paintings, some generic, and some of a particularly dark style. Despite the macabre beauty of these paintings, the artist’s name would elude even the most knowledgeable of critics, as he never had the chance to achieve the fame he both desired and deserved.

 

The particularly eerie paintings were only along one hall though: the second. The first hall was decorated differently, again, with generic paintings, but mixed in with them were a variety of clocks, concentrated mostly on the right wall it seemed.

 

On the third, the only things to note were three framed letters placed nicely in the center of the left side. Two letters, one scribed in red ink while the other, black and both in terrible hand writing, sat on either side of a blood-stained post card. None had stopped to really read into any of these framed writings, but if they were well-versed, they may have noticed a feeling of familiarity about them. They were well-known, and highly publicized, after all.

 

 

Motioning outward, Jeff looks from the halls to the group. He points outward toward the first hall. “That hall is for Clocky and Ben. Clockwork’s room is the last one on the right, then her clock room is the one next to it. If you ever wanna find LJ for whatever reason, ask Clocky. He sleeps in her room. Ben’s is across the hall from the clock room, but he doesn’t ever get to go into it. I don’t even know why he’s got a bedroom.” Then again, he also doesn’t know why the hell Clockwork needs an entire bedroom full of clocks either- he knew about her compulsions of course, but someone really should do something about that.

 

His arm moves stiffly to indicate the second hall. “Jack’s room is the first to the left, then my room. Across the hall is Jane, and a vacant room.” He drops his arm, giving a vague, lazy motion to the third. “And clearly the last is you guys. Questions?”

 

“TV guy has a room?” Devin asks immediately, brow arching in N-Name’s direction as the kid says ‘tic toc, took clocks’ for no apparent reason. Again, they may consider it an improvement, but no one is paying enough attention to care.

 

“Yeah, dunno, Oppy just told me to clean it out when I brought the stupid cartridge home. I think he expected more of Ben.” Jeff explains, his expression dropping to one of annoyance as he mutters “we all did”.

 

For a moment it seems a bit like Devin may inquire further on what Jeff means by the ending of his sentence, but he doesn’t get the chance to before Alex speaks up.

 

Scoffing, as he usually does- may as well not even be a scoff anymore, just general behavior—“Why the hell does a tv get it’s own room? What the fuck does it do? Just sit there? Also why does the clock bitch need two goddamn rooms? Just make her sleep with her stupid ass obsession.”

 

“Like I said, we expected more from Ben.” Jeff’s bitterness remains as he says this, and even as he continues on to answer the second half. “She kinda commandeered it, and we haven’t had a reason to take it back yet.” But instead of allowing time for Alex to complain more, he turns again and gestures toward the second hall.

“Important note, if you guys get yourselves hurt in a way you need some good ol’ doctor help, head to Jack’s room- first door on the left, as I said. It’s pretty much our own personal clinic cuz he doesn’t use it for regular bedroom things.”

 

Despite the fact that the conversation has moved along, Alex still thinks to add in “why not just give her that room and vacate the room you originally gave her?” He leans to glance down to the room Jeff is speaking about specifically. “Which one’s Jack again? Is he actually competent?”

 

“Too many clocks in the one to move all her shit in, and until we need the room, it’s unnecessary—he’s the guy with the mask and a snickers in his face and he’s a doctor, so I’d hope so.” Jeff’s arms cross over his chest as he explains this, watching Alex as he just knows he’s not going to stop there.

 

And of course, he doesn’t. “Then she can just sleep on the fucking clocks instead. It’s her fault for hoarding them all, and that doesn’t mean jack shit. Doctors are fucking retarded.”

 

“It’s not like the woman gets any damn sleep to begin with, but the point still stands. That sounds like a whole lotta work for nothing. We don’t need it right now, so there’s no point, and—no he actually wanted to be a doctor, not one of those ‘only in it for the money’ guys. So his existence actually matters.” The last word of his sentence is echoed by N-Name and ignored by the rest.

 

Devin rolls his shoulders, looking first over the edge of the railing, where one can see the entrance and the foyer, then back toward the left wing of the mansion. He asks in a somewhat choked voice, "C-can we keep going?"

 

N-Name finally pulls down the turtle neck, allowing his repeats to be clear rather than muffled by the fabric now. "K-keep going, tic toc"

 

Jeff nods in response, moving a few steps in the direction of the left wing, but not past the stairs that lead down to the rest of the house. “On this side, we’ve got our libraries and our ballroom,” he gestures with both hands outward on either side of him, then brings them together to point straight forward.

 

Up the stairs, on the second floor, it seems the path naturally takes to the bedrooms, but if one is to turn, they noticed the floor opens wide before the inwardly curved walls of the right wing. There are no halls, rather two rooms that symmetrically frame large double doors much like the ones at the mansion’s main entrance, only these ones sit open.

 

Inside, they can see the beautifully polished floors of darker marble than what was used down stairs. The shine allows the reflection of the high, dome ceiling and a massive circular chandelier with thin strands of lights that dangle down and resemble dew on a spider’s web.

 

In the center of the room sits, upon a stage, a grand piano.

 

To everyone’s surprise, Alex speaks up, his tone void of bitterness for once. “You have a piano?”

 

Jeff looks back, brow arched in what seems to be surprise toward the boy’s interest. “Yeah, doesn’t get to get used often though, cuz the ballroom isn’t exactly a popular place.” As this is said, Jeff can’t help but once again sound disappointed. 

 

“It isn’t?” Tya asks, stepping forward not to look at the ballroom as Devin, Alex, and Jeff had been, but rather to pull N-Name’s hand away from his mouth, as he’d just begun to gnaw at the bandaging she’d so carefully placed on his fingers.

 

“Nah. It’s pretty difficult to invite a bunch of people into a mansion that can’t be seen unless they are permitted in, and even if I could do that, the fact that a couple supernatural entities live here with a bunch of serial killers’ll probably cause some problems.”

 

“Could always have a masquerade and keepthe more psychotic assholes locked up—also that piano is mine.”

 

“Piano is mine.” Now that his mouth is no longer busy with the tips of his fingers, he continues to echo.

 

“Go right ahead- have a good time moving it on your own though,” Jeff motioned forward as if to give the other permission. “As for the masquerade, the point still stands that people aren’t exactly allowed to know about the place.”

 

“I’ll just… commandeer it in there instead… Why can’t you just erase everyone’s memories or something? Even drugs can do something that easy.”

 

“Or we can get one for your room,” he suggests before forcing back onto the topic of the masquerade. “I don’t know if anyone here can do that, but I do know it’s not nice to roofie all your guests.”

 

Alex seems to soften just a bit, his eyes actually genuinely interested by the idea, but it quickly fades. “What are you just going to steal a piano from somewhere and break it through my bedroom wall or something?”

 

“I was gonna do it the nice way but if that’s what you’d prefer—“

 

"I'd preferred it be cleaner actually, don't destroy my room. It's all I have against these morons."

 

Jeff laughs at that, but calms himself in a timely manner so he may motion back. “Everyone got it? Libraries and ballroom.” The group nods, but rather than heading down the stairs, Jeff adds. “Jack holds DND sessions in there on occasion, so if you’re interested in playing, you should ask him about it.”

 

With that, he starts off down the first step, but before he does, Tya waves a hand to get his attention. “And the libraries? Are they free to use for everyone?”

 

Jeff just nods, and with that confirmation, she smiles a bit and glances back at them before following the others down.

 

Down the stairs, he looks to both sides, but disregards them and moves beyond the stairs to the archway that leads into the great room. He stands with his back against the arch, looking straight across from him with a small smile as he waits for the others to convene.

 

As they all join him, he looks from a frame on the arch that sits over a bad carving in the wall that reads “Jeff the Killer aka Jeffery Allen Woods”, to the room itself.

 

The room itself follows the red-brown color scheme of the rest of the place, with dark wood floors, and soft, brownish-red walls with dark red trim. Throughout it are a number of stark white couches that stand out with the near-gothic décor. Draped over the back of the longest one is a red, velvet throw, disarrayed just right to be aesthetically pleasing. Before the couch, centered between two other loveseats, is a large, mounted television over a small shelf system, on which are a couple of game systems. Spread on the floor in the center of all of these is a red and gold rug with thin crossed lines attaching themselves in a pattern, to little Fluer De Lis. This is only one section, and it’s offset only by the small, older television sitting on the floor in front of the shelves.

 

Beyond this, along the same wall as the mounted tv, is a short bookshelf. Three shelves are lined with various games that seem to be organized by system and alphabet. On top of this case are a few specific collectibles- a sword with a blue winged hilt and a gold jewel, thrust into a ragged stone, and a kid in bright orange and greenish-yellow clothing wearing an even brighter heart shaped mask, which has a larger version of itself hung on the wall in the center of the two figures. 

 

The wall opposite of the arch they stand at is grey stone, implying this leads to the outside. To confirm this, there is a pair of sliding glass doors with windows on either side and above them. Long red curtains are meant to cover these, but at the moment they are tied back, allowing light to flood in.

 

Next to the windows and doors, is a small area that seems incredibly cozy. More couches sit here, set in another semi circle, though this time they are centered around a large fire place, that is, at the moment, unlit. Next to the fire place is a larger book case, tall and wide, with books organized by color and the first letter of the author’s last name, then beyond that is a glass fronted cabinet containing many bottles of wine and wine glasses. Across from this cabinet sits a bar-like counter with four stools along the overhang.

 

 

“This,” Jeff motions outward toward the set up, “is Ben’s Bedroom”.

 

From the smaller tv, an annoyed voice whirrs “S-S-Stop calling it a beee-bedroom.”

 

“And by that, I mean our living room,” Jeff corrects easily, as if he’d intended to do it long before Ben spoke up.

 

Alex and Tya look first, in awe, to the bookshelf, lined with books, but Alex’s attention moves to the large tv after a moment as well. Again, with little malice in his voice, he asks “we can just tell Ben to go fuck himself and hang out in here, right?”

 

“Absolutely,” Jeff nods. “That’s what everyone else does. And if he doesn’t like that idea then he can figure his out a way to take himself to his actual bedroom, or let me play Majora’s Mask in peace.”

 

“Y-You can tell me to, bu-buut it doesn’t wooork. Goo-“ For a moment his tv glitches out, but it flickers back on so he may finish: “Good luck, noobs.”

 

“He’s a real dick about the tv- makes watching it super difficult if you’re not nice to him,” Jeff says bitterly, a thin lip curling upward with displeasure as he looks to the tv, on which Ben now shows with a big stupid sly smile.

 

“I’ll just read books for all I care,” Alex shrugs, looking to Ben, then back to Jeff.

 

“You’re welcome to them, there’s more upstairs too, and you can bring them back and forth. Don’t even have to get them too organized, Clocky schedules a day for that.”

 

“Fuck yeah, so she’s the crazy maid then?” Alex smirks, his little spike of excitement not even being killed by the fact that N-Name repeats ‘fuck’, then adds ‘tic toc’ as well.

 

“Yup,” Jeff nods.

 

“Does that mean we don’t have to help clean?”

 

“Only if she teaches you how to do it. If you do it wrong, she makes you redo it.” He sounds as if he’s speaking from experience, and his worsening grimace backs this theory. “Just as long as you don’t make your messes so bad it takes her more than the allotted time to clean- the consequences to that can get a little stabby.” Again, sounds as if he’s speaking from experience. “She also gets a little fainty on occasion if you over-work her, so try to go easy on her. Doesn’t sleep after all.”

 

“Does she have a thing for like… organizing?” Devin asks, motioning toward the bookshelves of games and books.

 

“Pretty much, the woman is a plethora of problems. She’s gotta have everything organized precisely, to the point that she even has to have her days planned and organized to the detail.”

 

Alex raises a hand, getting Jeff’s attention back, and then motions to N-Name, "can I make her stab the retard?"

 

"Tic..." N-Name stops mid tic toc- a phrase he’d apparently taken a liking to, as every idle repetition happening in the background had had it included- and for a moment his eyes flicker and focus on Alex. Behind him, Tya leans a bit to study his reaction carefully. After the last time, she has taken more interest in the behavior exhibited when the word is brought up. He seems to actually give a reaction. 

 

"You can!” Jeff exclaims. “I think that would be looked down upon, but yes!"

 

"Great, so we have our own mindless assassin and maid. At least that's one useful person here." Alex smiles, looking from N-Name to Jeff.

 

"The assassin part is somehow less concerning than the maid." Jeff states then changes the subject entirely. "Shalll wee??" He motions randomly to the general surroundings, but lifts off the wall to continue the tour.

 

N-Name finally looks away from Alex, eyes once again staring at blank space and any hint of consciousness is gone again. Taking notice of this, Tya tunes back in to what’s happening with the others, and before Jeff can lead them out, she stops him once again.

 

“Why is this framed?” She motions to the carving in the archway.

 

“That’s my deed to the house,” Jeff smiles slyly before turning away and heading to the first floor’s left wing.

 

Despite her confused look, she questions no further on this, only follows as he stands in the center of three rooms, all of which are closed currently. There’s one branching off hallway that, from their position, they can’t see down, but aside from that, this side is plain compared to the rest.

 

Jeff points out to the first room on their right. “That’s Oppy’s bedroom,” turns forward to the one directly ahead, “that’s his office,” then to the last. “And that’s a storage room. Down that hall you can get to one of the garages, but we usually use the one on the right wing cuz, I don’t know, this is Bossman’s side and it feels weird.” Jeff’s shoulders shrug, then he looks back at the rooms. “Dunno what he does in here, or if he’s even ever in here, but now you know.”

 

“So fuckface is mysterious as hell? Big surprise,” Alex grins, looking around at the three indicated rooms.

 

“Yeah, who woulda guessed. I like to think he keeps all his finely tailored huge guy suits in his bedroom, then goes and sits in his normal people sized desk and knees himself in the face.” Jeff says simply, a sigh leaving him afterwards as he glances back to the rooms once more. “But hey, who knows what he really does. All I know is we got a nice ass safe house and no one can find us here aside from like three specific dudes. I don’t care about his mysteries, I like being rich.”

 

 

"Op-Oppy" N-Name repeats, and Jeff nods in agreement.

 

"Oppy indeed." He says, then turns to look around to see if there's anything else worth mentioning. "There's not really much here, but I guess if you have a grievance you can go knock on the Bossman's door and hope he'll do something about it."

 

At this, N-Name steps forward as if obeying an issued order. Jeff’s brow furrows. “Do you have a grievance?”

 

"Grie-grievance"

 

Jeff’s expression melts to a less amused one, and he asks "Can you even say you have a grievance? Come back here." And at that N-Name turns to obey. Jeff motions off loosely in the direction they just came, hoping the group will move along so he can get by and take lead once again.

 

This doesn’t happen, though, as Alex stops them.

 

"No wait, Retard, go knock on Oppy's door."

 

"Don't." Jeff orders somewhat sternly, looking between the two of them.

 

N-Name stops fully, the initial order going unheeded. He faces Alex fully, his eyes locked on him as if he’s trying to figure something out. There’s a look of cold, underlying aggression, and once she sees this, Tya takes a few steps forward, just a bit past Alex.

 

Alex doesn’t seem to get the hint at all, rather he just looks offended that the idiot didn't do what he said. "What, are you too fucking stupid to understand what that means?"

Tya moves to set a hand on N-Name, but doesn’t do so, recalling what a negative reaction he had toward her touch the previous night. But his look, to her, is unsettling.

 

After just a moment, N-Name’s eyes close tight, and then the entire group is simultaneously startled as he screams “Shut up!”

 

A heavy, labored breath leaves him, and then his arms wrap around himself. “I’m no-not stupid, just sh-shut up!”

 

There’s muttering from Jeff and Devin, both in surprise toward the outburst. “He talks?” and “What the fuck?” are the common consensus.

 

Tya, still standing nearest N-Name, looks back to Jeff with widened eyes. The killer however seems too stunned to react, or even acknowledge her silent urging for him to do something. When he makes no effort to do anything, she takes a few steps toward N-Name, a hand retracting to rest on her own stomach. She intended to go to him, to talk to him, but she froze as he started up again.

 

“--I’m not stupid! I-I’m not st-stupid, I’m not st-stu-stupid.” He repeats, his neck cracking harshly once, then over and over as his body shakes.

 

"So uh... should we do something?" Devin motions outward toward N-Name, but neither he or Jeff makes any move to help for a long moment.

 

After a second Jeff seems to get a rough start, taking a quick step forward before slowing and just setting his hands on N-Name’s shoulders.

 

“I’m not…” his voice quiets significantly at the feel of someone’s hands on his shoulders, but it’s not long lasted.

 

Having been temporarily stunned by the outburst, Alex was quiet until he realized nothing overly impressive comes of him finally speaking. His shock wearing off, he says "I don't know, you sound pretty fucking stupid to me."

 

N-Name shakes again, though this time it’s different- not due to a tic, rather it seems anger.

 

Devin shoots Alex another look of pure hatred, and though Tya’s physically frozen in place, she finds herself able to speak back to Alex. “Why must you continue to do this? You could very well keep your opinion to yourself, clearly no one cares about it.”

 

"That's exactly why I'm going to keep speaking my mind."

 

This response effectively brings her to turn and look at Alex. "Are you going to cause problems in every aspect of what we are doing? This was a simple tour of the house we are being given free reign of, and you cannot shut it long enough to get half way through it?"

 

“No, no I can’t, so have fun living with it,” Alex smirks, drawing his earmuffs down around his neck and motioning out to N-Name. “And have fun living with tha-.”

 

“Why do you hate me!? Du huronsohn—du huronsohn! Ich habe dir nichts getan!”

 

Jeff had been shaking N-Name briefly, but as his angered screaming turns into something foreign, the man stops and tilts his head with curiosity.

 

“You’re gonna keep going cuz no one cares about your opinion?” Devin asks with annoyance, looking from him back to N-Name. He mutters ‘what the fuck’ under his breath once more, but is pulled back as Alex continues on.

 

“Yeah, I am, I’m sure you have a ton of problems with that, but you’re a wallflower so you can’t say shit.”

 

Rather than paying any mind to the three’s bickering, Jeff separates from N-Name and says “I’m… gonna go find Jack—“ Than he looks at Alex. “Come with me.”

 

When he announces that he’s going to leave, there’s a small sound of protest from Tya, but Jeff shushes her with a gesture, then says “I don’t want to move him in case that makes all this worse,” he points back to the kid that’s backed to the wall now, hands tangled in his brunette curls, stuttering out the words “I’m not stupid” as he continues to shake, crack, and crane.

 

“Should we leave him alone though?” Devin asks, to which Jeff shakes his head.

 

“He’s not alone, he has you two,” he smiles at Devin, motions back to Tya, then gestures for Alex to start walking.

 

“Why the hell do I have to come with you?” The complaintive teen whines complying for only a few steps.

 

As Alex’s voice reaches him, N-Name starts to worsen, his head ripping back and slamming hard against the wall.

 

Devin just gestures toward N-Name as if that alone should be enough of an answer. He opens his mouth as if he's going to say something else, but rather than doing so he just sighs. 

 

The sound of his head slamming back into the wall gets Tya moving again. Jeff motions Alex to the living room, and she looks from Jeff to N-Name, seeing that he’s not going to try and fix this particular problem. For once, she doesn’t hesitate or move with caution, instead she steps forward before kneeling inches in front of him and putting her hand behind his head if only to soften the blows.

 

Jeff looks from N-Name to Alex, then answers “because you’re causing the current problem,” in a whine much like the one Alex used with him. He straightens. “Do you wanna be whisked away like a pretty princess?”

 

“He’s the fucking problem for being so damn broken!” Alex protests, not even catching on to the last part of what Jeff said.

 

“Pretty princess it is,” Jeff takes a step toward him, arms raising to show that he will scoop Alex up if he doesn’t start walking, to which Alex backs away to avoid his grasp. He drops his arms and says calmly “if you’re not the problem, you’re at least the catalyst, and you need to get away.”

 

On the floor, Tya pulls at N-Name, listening as he goes to mutter the phrase once more. He starts only with ‘I’m’, the words getting caught in his throat as his body shudders and contorts still. When he cannot get the rest out, Tya absently finishes the sentence by saying “not stupid”.

 

When he hears this, his expression melts from anger to something more of soft surprise and sadness. It’s not long lasted, but it’s not anger it goes back to, rather stress. A hand reaches out in the direction of the reassurance as if he’s trying to grab onto something.

 

Unsure of what to do, Tya awkwardly leans forward. N-Name’s hand first grasps her shoulder, but she readjusts and sets one of her own over his, and he latches onto that instead.

 

As he tightly grasps it, Tya watches his carefully- it feels odd- strained, tense, and she notices the usual tics are minimal. Small twitches rather than full out swatting as he usually does, as if he's restraining himself.

 

For no reason in particular, she looks back at the other three. Alex and Jeff, being too preoccupied with each other, don’t take note of what is happening, but Devin has been watching curiously. When he sees her look back, his bottom lip puckers just a bit and he shrugs.

 

She cannot tell what this gesture means, and because of this a small whine leaves her. She resigns to her fate, adjusting to sit back against the wall as well. She sits shoulder to shoulder with N-Name, watching as his harsh twitches soften just a bit. She pulls at his hand, prying his fingers off her own only so she can properly intertwine hers with his, rather than have them all be uncomfortably crunched together by his grasp. When she allows it, he tightens his grip once more, this time more comfortably.

Recalling the way he'd worn his sweater earlier, she does something to him she, herself finds comfort in: she reaches across and tugs at the neck, pulling it up over his mouth. When he feels this, his own unused hand reaches up to better adjust the neckline, then cup over his mouth.

 

Jeff turns as the sounds soften, looking over the scene carefully before asking “…Is he dying or not? Do I need the doctor squid?”

 

Alex leans to look past Jeff, grimacing as usual, and saying “I think he’s just done being a damn baby. So do we still have to leave since I’m apparently fucking awful?”

 

Devin just gives her a weak thumbs up as if to show she’s doing good. Though his lack of expression makes the action seem a bit odd, Tya can’t help but give a little laugh in response. She tries to stifle it, unsure of whether or not it’ll spook N-Name further, then she uses her free hand to return the sign.

 

For the first time, Devin’s face slowly contorts into a bit of a smirk, a small snicker leaving him, though he’s not as good at quieting it as she is. 

 

Tya looks from Devin to N-Name, softening once more as she notices his eyes have opened again. They are blank again, and as if to try and get some sort of reaction, she squeezes the hand still tightly grasping her own.

 

His neck cracks, and his grip tightens briefly.

 

“No, we don’t have to leave.” Jeff looks back to Alex. “And I’m not saying you’re awful, I’m saying you need a filter.” Which is hypocritical, given the fact that Jeff himself has approximately zero filter.

 

“I’m not going to filter myself so don’t bother trying to make me—“

 

“If I was going to make you do something, you wouldn’t have a choice in the matter,” Jeff states firmly, an odd glint in his eye that disappears quickly as he says “I was going to treat you as if you were, I dunno, a person worth a little respect, and ask you to maybe refrain from the insults for the duration of this tour.”

 

"Fine, but can I at least insult him after the tour?” Alex pauses to look toward N-Name and Tya. “I mean, at least that made him look a bit alive so who knows, maybe he's a masochist."

 

“If you could, carry out your little experiments on that when I’m not around. I don’t give a shit what you do as long as I don’t have to deal with it.”

 

 

Tya leans a bit closer to N-Name, her voice soft as if to keep her words between the two of them. “Will you still say nothing?”

 

“No-Nothing,” his is just as gentle as hers, and for a moment he glances absently at her.

 

Sighing, the girl looks at their hands. “Do you want to keep this?” She opens and closes her fingers around his to show what she means, and N-Name copies the action, squeezing when he closes his own. “That tells me nothing.” But she expected that. She doesn’t push further, instead moves to stand and help him up as well. "Every interaction I have with him will, in some way, lead to him screaming."

 

Jeff, hearing this and taking it the wrong way entirely, arches a brow at her and asks "...why'd you get mad about the canoodling comment if it was right."

 

It takes only a second to realize the implications that could be taken from what she said, and as her cheeks tint red, she implores " it wasn’t right please stop." She moves to cover her face with her hands only to realize she’s not helping her case by blatantly displaying that she’s holding N-Name’s hand. Again, a bit more desperately, she begs “can we please move on?”

 

At that, Jeff happily dismisses the conversation that seems to be embarrassing her, and turns on his heels to start off toward the foyer again.

 

She follows, forcing herself to calm and holding up N-Name's hand and looking at it as if it should have some answers to whether or not letting go will end in him screeching again.

 

Exhausted, Devin follows, waiting to walk at Tya and N-Name’s sides.

 

Behind them, there’s a sound. A familiar glitch and hiss, but as anyone turns back to see what it is, they are only able to catch the shadowed shape of a humanoid figure.

 

Alex had turned back to roll his eyes at those pointlessly trying to help the blatant lost cause, but as he did, he noticed the figure and pursed his lips. “Right… So are there ghosts here at all?”

 

"It wouldn't surprise me." As Devin answers, Tya straightens and looks at Alex, then Devin. She may not have cared much for the idea of holding a metaphorical zombie’s hand at first, but at the mention of ghosts, she’s suddenly glad she has something to hold onto.

 

Jeff thinks on this question only to have his answer be a very exaggerated shrug. "Dunno. Probably."

 

At this response, Tya instinctively lets out a small sound of displeasure, and looks to Devin with wide eyed concern. He catches this (mostly he can feel her eyes on him) and faces her with his only brow raised.

 

Alex takes note of Tya’s reaction and grins. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of some pathetic ghosts-“ his mocking her his cut short to look at Jeff. “what the hell do you mean you don’t know?”

 

He doesn’t quite mean to defend Tya, but Devin replies "Dude, you don't fuck with ghosts. They fuck your shit up."

 

Tya just uses her free hand to pull up the scarf much in the same manner she had done to N-Name’s sweater.

 

Again, Jeff shrugs and answers "Ben's like... a ghost. But not a good one. He's more of a tv. And I haven't seen any other than him, but I also don't pay a lot of attention to anything but myself."

 

Alex shakes his head "I don't even know where to begin with what you just said."

 

"The tv is somehow a ghost?" Devin questions, but Jeff shakes his head as well.

 

"The ghost is a tv." He corrects.

 

Tya pulls her scarf up to hide everything but her eyes and holds it there with her free hand. Her sudden discomfort is sparked and worsened as a deep voice suddenly speaks up. Fortunately for her, she doesn’t seem to be the only one, as Devin jumps too, and Alex quickly tries to make himself look stoic like that didn’t spook him. 

 

“Technically speaking, the ghost is a video game.” Jack approaches, solid hands splaying idly as he talks.

 

Devin sighs loudly as he realizes it’s only that thing, though really, he’s not much sure it’s better.

 

“Oh, I’m well a-fucking-ware that the stupid kid’s a video game,” Jeff’s arms pull up and cross over his chest, his fingers digging into the fabric of his black t shirt as he pouts and looks away from Jack.

 

“Muffin, we can get you another copy of Majora’s Mask.” Jack says as gently as he's capable, only for Jeff to huff.

 

“No, he ruined it.”

 

At that, something akin to a sigh leaves Jack.

 

“The ghost is a damn game?” Alex asks, his voice full of annoyed disbelief. “Are you serious? What, did some twelve year old make him up or something?”

 

"He is about ten, and I think he is haunting it. Then again, that’s only what I've been able to gather thus far." Jack answers, looking from Alex up to Jeff.

 

“What you don’t like some good ol’ spooky video game stories?” Jeff questions with a small smile, as if he’s trying to get less mad about his being robbed of playing Majora’s Mask.

 

“Yes, it is real spooky if you ask me- by the way, LJ has made his special spaghetti for lunch, but if you do not want it again today, I am pretty sure Jane was about to kick him out of the kitchen to make something better.”

 

Jeff's face immediately twists into a grimace and he shakes his head at the offer of LJ’s spaghetti. Jane's cooking though, he'll take that. "We will head there next then. There's not too much left to show anyway, and Alex wanted to meet Jane."

 

Jack glances at Alex "...I shall give her an advanced notice then."

 

Alex’s annoyance quickly turned to confusion then soon to interest as a girl had been mentioned. "Wait, so a girl here cooks? Is she normal?"

 

"On the scale spectrum of 'normal', she is possibly one of the closer to it," Jack nods, and Jeff agrees.

 

"As normal as you'll get in this house."

 

Alex pauses, "...Is that good?"

 

"Guess we'll find out, won't we?" Jeff motions for everyone to continue on. "We'll finish up our tour and come back to the dining area.”

 

"I will wait in the dining room for your arrival," Jack nods to Jeff, taking a step back to disengage, and Jeff gives a smile to assure him that he’ll be there soon enough. He then leads them to the opposite side of the foyer and down the ‘hall’. It isn’t much of one, more a narrower part between the walls of the Great room and Kitchen, the curved side of the estate, then it opens into a large circular area with many closed doors.

 

The dining room has its elaborate archway, and next to it, is a smaller one, from which a sickening sweet and tomato-y scent emanates for those who can smell it. Looking in, they can see the kitchen, where LJ is working away at a large bowl of pasta.

 

“This is what we call the gallery,” Jeff motions around the circle. It’s correctly named, as the area between the doors is littered with sculptures, statues, and paintings, all of which are less generic than those found upstairs, but not as intriguing as those done by the unnamed artist. These all seem personalized as well, though, and if one was to look closer, they could see some of the names on them are familiar, particularly Jeffery Woods. The paintings labeled with his name are done entirely in hues of red, and have no sense to them, as if they are an attempt at abstract. 

 

The sculptures are done similarly, though not by Jeff. They don’t seem to have much reason to them, but they look sharp, and some cling to the walls as if built directly in.

 

The doors are all the same, and at the moment, are all closed.

 

He starts from the left, to the door nearest the dining room’s entrance: “Bathroom, Tailoring, Art, Billiard—I’m not really sure what to call that one. Weapon room? It’s where we keep all our messy shit—, Laundry, then the Music room.” He then points down a branching hall, “and down there is the garage we usually use. There’s also another door down that way that leads out into the greenhouse, and outside of the greenhouse you can get out onto the veranda, though you can also do that from the Great Room, and then the pool.” As he finishes, he drops his hands to his sides and looks back to them. “Oh, by the way, you need to do your own laundry. Clocky doesn’t get to that part, she doesn’t care unless it specifically involves herself, and she doesn’t where your clothes so. Uh, she has a schedule up in there, and if you do yours when she’s supposed to be doing her own, she’ll take yours out and put her own in.”

 

“Tic toc, laundry,” N-Name repeats, and Jeff nods.

 

“Yeah, laundry. Do you know how to do yours?”

 

“La-Laundry. Do yours.”

 

“I’ll take that as a no,” Jeff trails off, then opens his mouth as if he’s going to say something. He stops, purses his lips, then says “I was going to say you can do yours with mine, but you’ll need to figure it out on your own, buddy. I wear a lotta white and have a slime boyfriend so mine’s pretty specific.”

 

"You're dating slime?" Alex asks, very obviously disgusted by the thought. "How does that even work?"

 

"He's not just slime, he's a little bit of tangible in there. More so on certain occasions." Jeff didn't quite catch his implications until after he said it, and when it did register to him, his already carved smile grew. "Didn't mean it like that but good."

 

Alex however seems significantly less amused, and almost like he’s going to vomit. "Can I just never talk to you or slime boy again because I don't want to relive that image."

 

" R-relive that i-image" N-name echoes

 

"That wasn't what I meant by it!" he reiterates, a little more offended this time. "The more he eats the more..." Jeff made a few hand motions to try and get his point across though he wasn't sure he was doing it right. "He gets"

 

Devin just quirks his brow inquisitively at Jeff’s gestures.

 

Seeing this Jeff huffs a little and tries to think of the word. "He like... Solidifies? He looks more like a person."

 

Tya takes a moment to take that in, then says "he's an interesting creature."

 

"He's a person but yes." Jeff corrects only to be questioned by Devin.

 

"He.... is?"

 

"Yes." he says firmly, as if this wasn't for debate. "He is, he just... Had a mishap."

 

"A mishap...” Alex trails off, a hand making a circular motion as if telling Jeff to continue. “Do you mean with toxic waste or something?"

 

"It was more a curse and spooky mask I think."

 

"Oh, well that's lame then." Alex drops his hand back to his side, seemingly uninterested now that it didn’t go how he wanted.

 

"At least it makes... sense?" Devin adds skeptically.

 

"Toxic waste would have made more sense than a fucking mask, so no, it doesn't make sense." Alex is quick to argue.

 

Seemingly annoyed (though really what’s new?) Devin says "I meant that he was human but something happened.”

 

"That also barely makes sense."

 

"Are you familiar with magic and curses?" Jeff shakes his head as if he’s confused by Alex’s retort. "They kinda do whatever they want."

 

"Nope, don't want to be either.”

Pausing, Jeff smirks and says "that's probably for the best, you seem like the kinda guy with no restraint."

 

"Is that an insult?" Alex straightens, looking at Jeff with some sort of hostile curiosity.

 

"Only if you take it as one.” Jeff's smile widens, that aggressive glint in his eye showing once more. “I was just saying that if you dabbled in magic you wouldn't hold anything back. Too much power."

 

Alex seems to think on this, than accept it, smiling. “So I'd be fucking awesome at magic since I'm not a pussy?"

 

"A p-pussy" N-Name tics, earning him a glare from Alex.

 

"Yeah, like yourself."

 

"Like y-yourself," his neck cracks.

 

"Fuck you, retard." Alex rolls his eyes and faces Jeff once more. Because he turns away, he doesn’t see the way N-Name suddenly looks at him again, his expression shifting to one of quiet anger.

 

Tya only notices as his grip on her hand tightens. His neck cracks, and under his breath he mutters “schmuck”, then, as usual, there’s a brief pained expression before his eyes are dead and blank again, but he’s done enough to strike Tya’s interest once more.

 

"Powerful doesn't mean awesome." Jeff said, narrowing his eyes as he watches the exchange. He dismisses it and focuses on Alex, who rolls his eyes.

 

“How doesn't that mean awesome? It's practically synonymous."

 

Jeff smiles a bit at the naïve mentality Alex clearly has, and answers "because it could be destructive, and that's the opposite of what we work toward."

 

"Not if you do it right."

 

Jeff’s head tilts, and he asks "Would you?"

 

With little hesitation, Alex answers "of course".

 

Jeff smirks at that and nods his head. "Then you have a chance," but whether or not Jeff legitimately believes this has yet to be seen. Turning, he looks back at all the rooms he'd addressed then to the dining room. "Everyone got it? Think we can eat now?”

Naive and arrogant, Alex takes that as he truly does have a chance and grins with triumph. "Sure." Though really, he’s barely paying any real attention to what’s happening.

 

With the other’s acceptance, Jeff motions in the direction of the dining room, urging them to move to it.


	6. EVERYONE IS JACK.

Jeff had ushered the small group in and now, with head tilted, watches as they all take the same seats they'd had last night in a way that suggests this was going to become routine. He wasn't entirely sure why, but this amused him- Alex at one head of the table, then to his left, the seat Jeff himself would likely take, and then opposite them, N-Name and Tya. A few empty chairs between Tya and Devin, then the other end of the table, and, on the corner across from Devin, where Ben had sat and likely would be sitting again if someone actually wanted to lug his tv and console around to do so.

He scoffs at the thought, then moves to take his seat.

As if on cue, a masked woman enters through the archway behind Tya and N-Name- the one that leads into the kitchen. In her arms is a simple platter of little mini homemade pizzas, which she leans over the empty chairs between Devin and Tya to set down.

Drawing upward again, she brushes some fallen locks of slick black hair back over her shoulder, then faces Devin, then the rest. She says nothing, only turns, as if she's going to start back. Rather than getting to do so, another person—a redheaded boy, finds their way in with a second platter with more pizzas, though this boy moves with less grace than she had used.

He moves as if he's going to hold it out to her, but it appears his grasp wasn't as good as he thought, and the platter topples, falling on the floor with only a few pizzas surviving.

The room's eyes are drawn downward as if mourning the loss of their food, but without hesitation the black haired woman leans, shoves some back on to the plate, keeping them separate from the ones that hadn't been tainted, then stands again. She leans, shoves the 'clean' pizzas onto the other plate, then drops the plate in front of Jeff.

"These are yours."

For a moment, it seems as if Jeff is going to say something, but before he can manage, everyone's attention is pulled by the sudden appearance of a neon green glow from Kyle. Turning, they see text over the clumsy boy's head. 'Sorry,' it reads, 'used to having two hands'.

The woman doesn't give a verbal response. Instead, she sets a hand on the boy's shoulder as if to reassure him that what had happened was no problem, then she heads back into the kitchen.

As she left, Jeff briefly glares in the direction of the door, then looks down to the floor pizza that was so carelessly plopped in front of him. There's a moment of displeased hesitation before he says, more to himself than those around him, "Clocky keeps the floor clean", then shrugs, picks up one of the bite sized pizzas and pops it into his mouth.

It's only a moment before the woman returns, and when she does, Jeff motions outward toward her. She bends to clean sauce off the floor, but Jeff proceeds anyway. "And this, everyone, is Jane."

She nods her head in greeting as she stands straight, then watches as Jeff points to Alex. "He was excited to meet you," he retracts his hand, leaning back in his chair and tilting his head at the teen behind Jane. "Who's the kid?"

Her expression cannot be read behind the pale, porcelain mask, but it's clear that she briefly faces Alex before making a gesture back to the redhead behind her. "This is Kyle. I picked him up this morning."

As she says this, Kyle gives a somewhat sheepish wave, stepping forward as Jane moves aside.

"Well you coulda said something," Jeff motions loosely to the newcomers nearest him, "I was just giving these ones a tour."

Again, the neon text appears above the head of the one-armed teen. 'Tour?'

Jeff narrows his eyes at Kyle and stays silent for a long moment. After this pause, he perks up slightly, leans forward and looks at him. "Tour of the house-" he says quickly, as if hurrying to dismiss the answer, then wiggles a finger in his direction. "What is it you're doing there?"

'Speaking to you', Kyle responds easily, his expression mostly neutral. 'I can't actually talk anymore, which fucking sucks'.

"Yeah, no, I get that but like...." Jeff draws his hand back only to make some odd indecipherable motions. "what is it?"

Kyle nods a bit with this new understanding, then writes 'Electricity and energy.' Then as that text fades, 'Color added for stupid reasons' pops up. Kyle pulls out the chair next to Tya and takes a seat in it, watching as Jeff shakes his head.

"Flare is never stupid," Jeff corrects with a somewhat serious tone, as he pokes at one of his questionable pizza bites. He stops as he looks up to notice Jane watching him, and beneath her mask she rolls her eyes. 

Now that they have stopped talking, Jane speaks up again, facing Jeff. The spite in her tone as she continues makes it clear she's addressing him particularly. "I was planning on giving Kyle a tour after you were done."

Jeff doesn't give her much response. Even if he had planned to, immediately after Jane finishes, Kyle leans forward to point out N-Name on the other side of Tya, as he's just echoed and twitched. "What's his problem?"

Jane makes a small sound of acknowledgement, facing N-Name then Jeff as if awaiting an answer, only to receive an exaggerated shrug. Jeff makes a small motion to Tya, and at this, she tenses, straightening and looking back to Jane, to Kyle, then to N-Name.

"I-I—" she starts, studying him, then their hands as they are still clasped together. Gently, she begins to retract her hand to see if he will allow it, but before she can fully do so or give an appropriate answer, Alex speaks up on an entirely different note and distracts her.

Tactlessly, he motions to his own face, eyes on Jane, then asks "are you trying to be spooky or something?" 

"I'm not sure that's the best question to ask-" Devin starts, and Jeff immediately nods in agreement.

"Remember that thing I said about a filter?" He looks from him to Jane. "You're in a house of serial killers, just reminding you.

"Yeah, and dying would be a damn blessing so I don't really care." Alex moves to slip his earmuffs off once again, setting them on the table near Jeff, then looks back up to Jane.

Her posture straightens now that attention has been turned back on to her. She is quiet for a moment, then a hand moves up to touch the side of the mask gently. "I would...Rather not talk about it," she replies, then tilts her head a bit. Now, with a bit of amusement, she follows up with "and the dying part tends to depend on how it is carried out."

Alex glances briefly to N-Name as the 'freak' echoes 'tic toc' for no apparent reason. With a grimace he mutters "I don't give a shit how I die, just as long as I can get away from here..."

Jane disregards this. Instead, she faces upward, toward the arch, then says "on time as usual, I see" as the brown haired girl from earlier steps into view.

"Always," she responds shortly, moving to the other end of the table where she sits at Devin's side and proceeds to pull forward a bit of the pizza bites for herself. "Names?" She questions firmly, her eye(s) not even coming up from the plate she's setting her food on.

"Oh—" Devin pauses a bit, looking at the others. "I thought you knew already."

"Why does it even matter? Clearly all you care about are fucking clocks." Alex scoffs in her direction. Clockwork's attention is drawn up briefly and one eye looks him over carefully while the other remains unmoving.

After studying him for a moment, she looks to Devin. "No, there was just an announcement that there'd be more people moving in." Then to Alex, "do I know you?"

"No, you don't know me, and I'm-" Alex starts up as if he's going to go on a rant, but before he can proceed, Clockwork makes a sound and holds a hand up to shush him.

"Don't continue. You're irrelevant to me." She states, then looks to the others. "My name is Natalie, but everyone here calls me Clockwork or Clocky."

Kyle hesitates, looking from the ever annoyed Alex, to Clockwork. After a second he writes 'I would also like introductions, if that's alright. Though I have no intention of making friends here, I imagine it's going to happen anyway.'

Tya is the first to answer, not because she's eager to know Kyle, but because she is amused by the second half of his own request. After introducing herself, she holds up her and N-Name's hands. "Apparently making friends is inevitable, even if they are dead inside."

As they go around the table once again introducing themselves, a man enters. He is familiar, but at the same time, very different. His grey tinted skin is smooth, and he looks to have the start of facial hair despite the rest of him looking neatly trimmed and refined.

He takes a seat next to Jeff, and as he does, a pout forms on the killer's face.

"You ate without us."

"I decided to spare the newcomers my appetite for today," his voice seems to be the thing that gets everyone's attention, knowing even more that it's familiar to them, but it isn't until he introduces himself to Kyle as 'Jack' that they actually catch on.

This goes unquestioned by most of the newcomers as they never saw the creature without his mask, and thus assume this is normal, but Kyle watches him for a moment before leaning forward and writing 'I'm noticing some of you are human while others probably reign from a similar plane of existence that Mr. Operator does? Why is that?'

At Kyle's question, Tya straightens. It seems her interest is piqued, like this question is one she's had for a bit, though she's not entirely sure she would have phrased it similarly. She looks around, impatiently awaiting the answer.

"Ah, yes." Jack starts fondly, "I reign from the plane of existence known as..." His hands raise to further exaggerate his next word "Washington."

Kyle notes this with what looked to be a soundless chuckle, then over his head the words 'aw, I can't laugh anymore...' appear briefly before washing away to be replaced with the word 'Colorado.'

"Col-Colorado," N-Name repeats as he usually does, but then his head tilts just a bit. His expression remains the same, but he says "Colorado..." once more, his tone different this time, like it's familiar to him in some way.

Curious, Tya leans closer to him. "You can read, then?" Tya questions quietly, then she pauses, looking around. "I don't mean that to be insulting."

"Great, the retard can read and is also apparently from Colarado. Good for you, pjs, you guys should be friends." Alex gives a sarcastic thumbs up before rolling his eyes.

Tya's somewhat interested gaze turns to annoyance as she faces Alex. "Is retard the only insult you know, or do you have any diversity?"

"Why would I need diversity when he clearly doesn't know any other word aside from that one."

Rather than allowing the two to continue on, Jack intervenes and says "This boy does seem to have quite a bit going on, what, with the obvious syndrome."

Though she had elected to ignore Alex anyway, Jack's comment only aids in pulling Tya's attention away. "Syndrome?"

"You cannot tell?" He questions as if she should know, and in response she only tilts her head.

'Wait, did you call me pjs?' Kyle leans, one eye narrowing at Alex curiously. As he leans, his red-orange curls shift aside to show that his other eye is nothing more than a clouded, white orb.

"Yes, yes I did." Alex confirms somewhat proudly.

When the two quiet with their pointless conversation, Tya continues with "...No, I cannot tell."

Before the man can answer, Jeff grabs his arm as if he's had some sort of epiphany. But he doesn't keep everyone in suspense, he quickly asks "Jack, is there a medical term for being a jew? Is that his syndrome??" His eyes, wide, flicker to N-Name, then back to Jack. "He said schmuck earlier—that's the Jew term for Alex."

'Why is that always a topic when I'm-' the lettering cuts off abruptly as Kyle notices the attention is on N-Name 'Oh, the broken kid is also Jewish. I should stop jumping to conclusions.'

"Ah, yes, the Jewish syndrome, I forgot about that," Jack is clearly humoring Jeff, nodding his head as he speaks in an overly sophisticated tone. "That's another syndrome he has then."

Jeff nods, his expression somewhat determined for no real reason. "Fuckin' knew it," he says, then looks at Kyle. "You've got Jew Syndrome too?"

'If that's what we're calling it now, it's one of three.'

Jack just shakes his head, moving to pat Jeff's shoulder in a manner that seems sympathetic toward his stupidity, then he continues with a more serious tone. "But yes, he has a tic disorder, if I should guess. Mid to severe—"

At the same time, Tya and Devin interrupt by firmly saying "Severe."

"...Then I'd say Tourette Syndrome."

Tya looks at N-Name once this is said, muttering the word 'tourette' under her breath as she nods.

'I used to know a kid with that,' Kyle adds needlessly. 'He just swore a bunch.'

"Isn't that a stereotype?" Devin arches a brow at Kyle, but the redhead just shrugs in response.

Tya pays no mind to the writing, rather looks back toward Jack and continues to question him. "What all does that cover?" She starts, then pauses, realizing that question itself is vague. "Does it explain why he repeats what we say rather than talking himself? Or his eyes?"

"It's characterized by repetitive involuntary movements." Jack replies. With this, Tya draws back, her free hand moving up so a finger can set against her lips as she thinks. This gesture makes her flinch, reminding her that her lip is busted once she presses it.

Jeff leans forward, eyes on Kyle, then he takes a serious tone as well. "You said it's one of three syndromes. Is one of the other three ginger?"

'Oh my god,' He snaps around, looking particularly dead inside at Jeff's words. 'I'm not fucking dealing with this-- Do not call me a ginger."

Jeff nods his head, bottom lip puckered, as if Kyle's response alone is enough of an answer.

Noticing that Tya is thinking, Jack readjusts, clearly doing the same before saying "Repeating may be a 'complex' vocal tic."

'Can we help his form actual sentences?' Kyle asks, and as he does, Tya motions toward him like she's curious about the answer to this question as well.

"Only if you keep repeating actual sentences..." He looks to N-Name with skepticism and curiosity, then says "Although I do not see how he is not talking on his own at all at the moment." Black eyes then narrow, staring at N-Name as if he's trying to figure him out. N-Name doesn't seem to notice this conversation is about him at all. His neck cracks to the side, and his clouded, dead gaze remains on the wall behind Jack. "I don't know if what would make him speak on his own. Muffin said that he uttered ' schmuck' before, but aside from that, why isn't he talking on his own?" His voice had quieted then, as if he's thinking aloud to himself, but then he leans forward and looks to Tya. "Has he said anything else that isn't echoing?"

"A bit, yes, but it seems... strange?"

"Strange how?"

Again, her hand moves up to set to her lips, the idle action once more becoming known as she winces at the pressure. With a bit of annoyance, she drops her hand back into her lap, but continues to think on what exactly she should say about what she's noticed with N-Name. "They seem to come about with... Well I want to say stress, but that was only on one occasion, today... Last night he was asleep and then he did it, and today when Alex called him retarded he did it." As she continued on, she finally tried to pull away from the hand she was holding, and said "eat".

As she tries to release, N-Name finally allows it. With the order given, it's easier, and he begins to obey.

Jack had been thinking on what she said, and he opens his mouth to speak after seeming to get some small ideas. This attempt is quickly shattered though, as behind them, LJ enters once more with his big bowl of pasta. His entrance alone would not have interrupted, but as he swooped between Tya and Kyle to set down his bowl of spaghetti, a little excited cackle leaves him. "Who wants some o' my special spaghetti?!"

Kyle leans aside, mouth half full of a pizza bite as he looks at the clown with concern, which catches Jeff's attention.

"Ya didn't meet this guy?" He asks, but doesn't give a chance for a response. "It's Laughing Jack!"

Kyle looks to Jeff, confusion worsening. 'I thought he was Jack.' He points to the doctor at his side.

Jeff nods happily, a stupid smile appearing on his lips. "Everyone in this house is Jack!" This is said matter-of-factly, then he points out to Jane "Black Jack," to Tya "Girl Jack" to Clockwork "Clock Jack", Alex "Dick Jack," N-Name "Jew Jack", Kyle "Ginger Jack—"

"Why am I just Girl Jack?"

"...Blonde Jack?-- Then there's phantom of the opera Jack," he points to Devin. "And we all work for Faceless Jack—hey, y'know, that's actually not a bad one." After he says this, he stops, feeling like he's forgetting someone. Leaning forward, he looks to the end of the table and asks "where's TV Jack?"

"Oh no!" Jane, having taken a seat next to Clockwork, suddenly stands and hurries off out the archway and toward the Great Room.

"...Apparently we forgot TV Jack," Jeff nods at Kyle. "Hm, I wonder what kind of Jack I am..."

"Ass." Alex answers without hesitation, and Jeff nods like this is fair.

'This is not making it easier to remember everyone's names.' Kyle looks around the table, then shakes his head.

Jeff's hands shoot up and he simply screeches "EVERYONE'S JACK."

At this, Alex sighs very loudly, standing from his chair and crossing his arms. "Right, well not that this isn't nice at all, but since the tour's over, can I go back to my room? I'm not overly interested in further introductions anyway, nor am I interested in eating with you people."

The hands that had raised before motion roughly toward the bowl of chocolate coated spaghetti in the middle of the table. "Ya don't wanna try LJ's special spaghetti?"

"It's way better than that boring 'ol stuff Jane made," LJ assures, his grin briefly widening.

"Yeah, I'm not overly interested in all the Jacks or the spaghetti or any of this shit. You guys can have a great time with it though."

Alex turns to leave, but before he can, Tya waves toward him to get his attention. Rather than speaking with irritation as she had been previously, she just curiously asks "Why do you not want to stay and spend time with everyone?"

"Because I hate all of you and hate being here."

"Perhaps you wouldn't if you stayed and got to know everyone."

Growling, he just responds "no thanks" as he exits.

She watches as he disappears around the corner, then looks forward again. She doesn't seem overly distraught, but something about her body language and expression says she's a mixture of curious, confused, and disappointed. Her brow is furrowed, her lips are lightly curved down, and her shoulders are slumped. Because of this, Devin just leans past Kyle and says to her "I think its every man for himself in his mind."

Tya nods slowly in something like agreement, then looks toward the others again. She hadn't quite realized that Jeff, Jack, and Kyle were off with their own mindless conversation that seemed to be about being gay.

She knows this because as she tunes back in, Jeff leans over and very sincerely tells Jack "I'm so gay with you."


End file.
